products vs. media

What do people really want?

I was thinking about this over the Christmas holiday. I saw people flying around buying up as many items as they could afford.

We humans love to collect things. We love products. In fact we aren’t called citizens anymore – they call us consumers.

But is this what we really want? How many products end up in the garbage or in the back of our closets a few weeks after December 25?

What we really crave is acceptance and recognition. When we buy new clothes – we are really purchasing the feeling we get when someone notices them. We buy new cars for the same reason. Our iPods tell people something about us.

But we usually buy media for ourselves. Who notices that we purchased Walk The Line on DVD? Who cares that we just downloaded U2 from iTunes? We do. We consume media to please ourselves – not other people.

And how many times do you throw away a DVD or CD? I bet you have CDs from over 10 years ago in your collection. Do you still wear a pair of jeans from ten years ago? I hope not.

Media (music, books, films, even TV shows) has a shelf life that doesn’t expire. In fact the older the media is – the more likely it is considered a “classic.” Yes cars and some other items also get to this status. But not to the level that media does. (Just look at TBS showing “The Christmas Story” for 24 hours straight).

Media makes us feel more. It makes sense of the world. It resonates with us. The world would be a boring place without musicians, artists, storytellers, writers, and filmmakers. In fact using media and communicating clearly is becoming the currency of the new millennium.

We need media in our lives.