As technology continues to change, I am reminded of a 2016 statement from the World Economic Forum; granted, it’s not really one they wish you to remember.
“You will own nothing and be happy,” they said.
Now, at its core, this may seem socialist. But as technology progresses, it seems to be more like a reality.
Take the entertainment/tech store chain Best Buy, for example.
Like more retail stores, Best Buy has gone through a few major inventory changes in recent decades. Vinyl records were replaced with 8-track tapes, then just tapes, and then CDs. But as you know, these too have gone the way of VHS, being replaced with yet another way to listen to your favorite music.
And now, the store has decided that selling physical DVDs and Blu-ray discs is no longer needed, either.
According to the plan created in early 2023, the first part of 2024 will include a massive cleaning out of all physical movie copies from all Best Buy locations. As a Best Buy representative told Variety, “To state the obvious, the way we watch movies and TV shows is much different today than it was decades ago.”
And so the store is revamping itself to go along with that change.
It also “gives us more space and opportunity to bring customers new and innovative tech for them to explore, discover, and enjoy,” the representative says.
For me and my household, it only seems to make sense. I mean, yes, we still have a cabinet full of our favorite DVDs and Blu-rays. But we hardly watch them; only when the Wi-Fi is out or something do we pull any of them out.
Instead, like most households these days, we stream just about everything, from classic Christmas movies to our favorite shows. Thanks to Amazon Prime, Hulu, Netflix, Disney+, HBO Max, etc., we have more options at our fingertips than we could have ever imagined just a decade or so ago.
Do we technically own them? No. And yet, as the saying says, we are happy with our nothing…
