I Miss My Old Media

I miss all the news that fit to print -- not all the news, and pseudo-news, and churnalism, and press releases published verbatim, and gossip, and updates to gossip, and galleries, and listicles  that drive  just one more page view.

I miss editors who say no.

I miss reading Playboy -- or anything -- for the articles.

I miss cutting things out to save them for later.

I miss ads that sell hard from a full spread and feel good about it;  ads that don't stalk you, and nag you, and creep you out.

I miss hearing from my friends once a year and spending all night catching up and telling them how much their kids have grown since I'd last seen them because the last I'd seen them was a year ago.

I miss organically yellowed pictures.

I miss the way old film cameras used to smell.

I miss having just one TV remote on my couch.

I miss turning the dial on my radio, and hearing crackling, and static, and then catching a faint song that sounds like it's played thousands of miles away because it is.

I miss songs on the radio being selected by someone but a playlist algorithm.

I miss knobs, and buttons, and dials, and switches.

I miss running to my mailbox and finding a handwritten letter.

20 comments:

  1. Makes me want to close this blog and start a samizdat zine instead.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think this is the first time I've commented on this blog (long-time reader), but I needed to chime in to say that as much as I love technology, I love this post even more. Well said.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I always feel the same. And I miss when it was "hard" to find music, difficult to have it, to discover new artists, to buy "rare" discs.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Funny you should mention that... http://www.tangiblestorytelling.org

    ReplyDelete
  5. I would add drive-ins to the list.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gigi -- I agree. Abundance of perfect and readily available stuff robs us of the satisfaction of discovery. I feel about the radio the same way.

    ReplyDelete
  7. And speaking of the radio..I miss Old Time Radio shows every night.When the whole family would huddle around the only radio and listen to spooky stories or the hockey game or Boston Blackie or Jack Benny.Yes I miss my media,but I also miss honesty in journalism,when what was written was the news and not some made up story.

    ReplyDelete
  8. You must be really old

    ReplyDelete
  9. Who doesn't miss all these things? I miss NOT having a computer sometimes, or a phone that you don't have to carry with you all the time just to stay connected. I miss calling the phone number at the local movie theatre to see what was playing. So, well said. Technology has its place, but maybe it's possible to be too connected.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Looks like a copy for an another Dodge Super Bowl commercial. Well said.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Somethings are gonna be lost as another new things replace.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Very funny and i can understand your thoughts...

    ReplyDelete
  13. You can always buy something retro to solve this problem

    ReplyDelete
  14. And why you must miss? Don't you use those media again??

    ReplyDelete
  15. ... I miss the way old film cameras used to smell. +1 (huge plus)

    :))

    ReplyDelete
  16. Wow, you must be old! I miss being able to take the time to smell the roses (and the old film cameras too :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I miss the days when you wait handwritten letter from your pen pals.

    Today, everything seem runs too fast.

    ReplyDelete

I am moderating all comments to weed out spam (there's a lot of it). Comments are usually approved within a day.

Related Posts with Thumbnails