As more and more of the things we love, music, literature, film, photography, move into the virtual world there seems to be a backpush of people wanting THINGS again. Not just things but OLD things like vintage clothing, records, handwritten letters. There’s something about the tangible that has a romantic feeling to it that the virtual lacks. Is it that virtual things lack soul? What is it about being able to touch, smell, and hold something that gives items a certain magic?

There’s certainly a feeling of ownership, or having the collection of items that people enjoy but I think it’s more than that. It’s as if the deteriorating nature of physical objects give things life. Think of items as humans… what makes us unique are our flaws, idiosyncrasies, and the way we change over time. The thing with virtual items is that they don’t change, they remain perfect. In 50 years your ebook won’t have that old book smell, or any dogeared pages. A digital photo that you upload to flickr will look the same in 100 years, maybe better. It won’t fade and soften over the years in the same way that our memories do. 

The reason I write this is because lately I feel like all I’ve seen in blogs and articles lately is news on trends, business ideas, and projects that are trying to bring things of old back. There was an article about how mechanical watches are becoming trendy again, postagram, snail my mail, and this article on iconoculture that shows people want to de-digitize.