It seems like every time we’re driving around town we see another video store going out of business, and it’s no surprise considering services like Netflix are streaming movies online for little more than the cost of two in-store rentals a month.
Even though it seems more convenient now, we really miss the days when we would walk into the corner video store with no clue what movie we wanted to watch. There was no way to get instant reviews or look up what other movies the actors were in. You just had to take a chance, and maybe rent two movies just in case one of them was lying about its “two thumbs-up.”
It was about having something to hold. Having a box to read in the car on the drive home. It was about spending 10 minutes making popcorn and turning off all the lights in the house. What a waste of time, right? Just like music stores were replaced by iPods, commercials were skipped by DVRs and stopping for directions was made obsolete by cell phones, so too video stores are disappearing in favor of streaming movies for a monthly bill.
We don’t really have to decide what to watch anymore either. Sure we have a choice in the matter. But by the time we run out of all the movies and TV reruns we’ve been aching to see, we’re greeted by a list of things a computer thinks we would like. It’s about as unpredictable as getting picks from the store clerk, but it helps keep intermissions to a minimum.
What a wonderful world of technology we live in. We can watch what we want, when we want on whatever screen we want. We don’t have to bother standing up to do it, either.
