It’s been nearly five years since I picked up a movie on a disc instead of scouring the internet for an online copy. This, although something I hadn’t thought of before now, is an incredibly startling realization.
Doomscrolling aimlessly through Instagram Reels shortly before the start of the new year had me noticing a trend consistently popping up along my Explore page. There were collections of videos, all aimed at one specific topic that defied the device I’d been enveloped by in the first place: the hope of bringing back physical media.
Physical media, as a definition, is exactly what it sounds like — media in its original, tangible form. This can come in various embodiments, such as vinyl records and CDs for music or Blu-ray DVDs for movies. Up until the late 1990s and early 2000s, physical media was the most common and accessible way to access these forms of entertainment.
However, with the invention of streaming and entirely online hosting platforms, convenience swiftly overtook novelty.
Sales dwindled, and many turned to hosting their work entirely online instead. Newspapers went fully virtual. Streaming services fractured off into large, big-name deals fighting over the rights to the hottest movies, shows and songs. Slowly, people also began to lose the tech required to use these objects in the first place.
Now, 20 years later, young people have started a movement to re-embrace these tangible pieces of entertainment, and in turn, to reconnect with each other. Gen Z has begun to return to the novelty of physical media, especially as collectors of film, music, and art.
One of the most popular forms of physical media that’s made a comeback in recent years are vinyl records. Pop stars have begun to market multiple variations of their listener’s favorite albums, with around 43.6 million vinyl units sold in 2024 compared to 2.8 million units in 2010. Collectors line up around the block at indie record stores, and wait in queues online to purchase records.
Books have also made a comeback through online communities such as BookTok. In a similar fashion, film collectors have begun to stock up on their favorite DVDs and VHS tapes, both to build their shelves and to protect their favorite films from being removed from streaming platforms.
There seems to be a common thread tying the resurgence of physical media together: we’ve begun to become conscious of our reliance on smart tech that’s caused us to lose touch with life around us. In turn, young people have found collectivism in laying down their phones and joining each other in person instead.
After my stark realization, I went out and bought a DVD of my favorite film with the hope that I would stop doomscrolling in the first place. I ended up setting a day to watch it with my best friend.
I advise you to also take a moment and think of the last time you used a piece of physical media and how your life has changed since the digital world took over. Maybe if we all took a moment to reconnect with entertainment in the tangible realm, we could reconnect with each other, too.
