Overdownloading

While downloading has infiltrated our lives to the point where it's practically second nature, the ubiquity and ease of access has subtly changed our consumer mentality.  I'm not talking about the ethics of piracy, but the way piracy has affected our ability to decide what we want to consume.

Choosing entertainment used to be a very deliberate process.  Take for example buying CDs.  Back in the day, people probably bought one CD or less a week.  You heard the one hit song on the radio, you saw the music video, and there's an off chance you read a written review on it.  If your friends had it too, then the purchase might've been a safe one.  Even if all the tracks on the CD weren't particularly good, chances were you probably listened to all of them a few times cause you already made the commitment through the purchase.  And in this process, the bond between you and the artist became stronger.  Through thick and thin, the experience was complete.

Nowadays, when people hear a song they like, they generally grab the entire album or even the discography.  Their ability to consume and absorb material is completely disproportionate to the speed at which they're downloading.  This results in a fast food, scatter shot approach to finding what appeals to us.  While some may argue that sampling everything buffet style certainly sounds better than a limited menu, the price we pay is that we often consume without tasting.  We're under constant pressure to try the newest and latest, it's easy to sometimes fall victim to our love/hate instincts.  If a song doesn't hook us or have meaningful lyrics within the first or second listen, then it's just "okay."  Snap judgments are made so we can move on and find what we really want.

Lately, I've been limiting the number of impulse buys/downloads, especially when I still have unfinished material.  I try to slow down and research the background and it's allowed me to appreciate each line, color, and design more.  I'm not sure if this way is better, but with the amount of data threatening to overflow unchecked, I need to portion myself even if it means I won't have it all.