[donw]

Renting a movie with Mom and Dad was a special kind of excitement as a kid.

Walking around the store, looking at all the covers to try and figure out what we were going to watch. Usually, you had seen a preview for any given movie, or had at least heard about it, but there was still a lot of "rolling the dice", especially if the actor was famous: I saw Battlefield Earth because the cover looked cool and I liked space sci-fi, but the movie itself made absolutely no sense whatsoever.

[tourmalinetaco]

Even renting digitally had a certain intimacy and enjoyment to it. The wait was exciting. Picking out what you wanted, waiting to get home/have it arrive in the mail let the mind explore the movie and build a personal connection to it, something that streaming just doesn’t fulfill to me.

[amelius]

It might also just be the fact that you were younger then.

[mensetmanusman]

It was, I wonder if such physical experiences will come back in the future.

[donw]

Depends.

In my culture, there's a strong push against being constantly online.

Phones must be kept in a backpack or otherwise stowed during social occasions, unless absolutely necessary.

Ideally, you turn them off, stuff them in a Faraday bag, and leave them in your car. Or just leave the phone at home.

Correlated to this is a focus on rebuilding some atrophied skills: getting around without Google Maps, being alone without needing the constant distraction of Youtube, etc.

The idea is that humans are not meant to live a life constantly mediated by an electronic nanny, and that you also need to maintain the skills to get along without one.

Related to this is a preference for physical media, or at least digital media over which you can exercise some control.

[ikurei]

Out of curiosity, what culture are you referring to? I've known a few individuals trying to do such changes, but no wider culture.

[batch12]

Why are they turning the phones off then placing them in a Faraday bag? I've only heard this before when someone is trying to subvert surveillance.

[donw]

There is no way to turn a phone truly "off", but you can isolate it from both listening in on conversations -- which modern phones do regardless of how they are configured -- and preventing it from connecting to a network.

You're never going to escape government surveillance, but you can take steps to prevent advertisers from hoovering up every last bit of personal data that they can.

[batch12]

I dont have an issue with it, I just didnt see the tie between disconnecting to be present for a social event and not being tracked.

[idiotsecant]

Unlikely. You might as well ask if we will get back to hand writing physical correspondence. It will be trendy to avoid being online (or at least give the appearance of doing so) but it'll never be a widespread phenomenon.