alt Hacker NewsWhat's scary is how quickly the lack of ownership of things we used to own can become a "new normal".
Forget about explainin to the youngins. My girlfriend is 7 years younger than me and barely grasps the concept of why I'd have 20,000 mp3s on my phone that I ripped off CDs I owned. Why not just pay for a subscription? She doesn't understand the utility of anything being hers.
So I say, send me a song. And she sends a link.
It's hard to even explain to someone who doesn't know what it means to have anything that isn't rented.
What do we "regular folk" really own in our lives? Our houses are rented or loaned (via mortgage), the car is paid off in installments, everything is a subscription or license. Many people I know purchase their clothes and electronics through buy-now-pay-later services and stream all media they watch. We lend our time and effort to our employer if we are salaried, as we don't get paid at the end of the day but at the end of the month.
How can someone who has never owned anything of value in their lives understand what it means to have something that isn't rented?