I find the quote you used about owning a vintage camera and an unused guitar and whatnot interesting. While, as you mentioned 🤣, I’m certainly NOT a minimalist, I think I’ve found a comfortable area by being harsh about what I do or don’t keep and with my approach to ownership in general. I’m not too sentimental about most possessions other than some childhood things - which sit in a box in the loft, anyway - and my physical media. Were my books and movies put into another room (my dream!!! When I own a place, it will happen), my bedroom would actually be very minimal and practical.

Practicality really is key to me with possessions. If I will use them, I don’t mind having things. If I will enjoy them or get use out of them that is. With sillier things, like the Man Alive! poster that has adorned every place I’ve lived in since I got it years ago or the Godzilla plush I recently bought, there’s a sentimental connection that comes up for me every time I pay attention to that thing.

With the physical media, I think that by thrifting probably 95% or more of it (charity shops, car boot sales, facebook marketplace, etc), it makes the ownership not only more ethical but POSSIBLE on a financial level. There are an untold number of incredible experiences with films or books I would never have had if I engaged with movies differently - if I tried to stream them (so few titles are available on streaming in comparison to DVD - google a chart for this, it’s interesting!), not only is the experience lessened and less romantic, but I also simply would have missed so many titles. The same for books! Many I picked up just because the physical book appealed in that moment - that’s how I came across James Baldwin!!! When ‘Another Country’ leapt off of the shelf to me with its gorgeous cover and being able to flip through and actually feel the book makes all of the difference.

I think that that approach, alongside being v willing to donate or sell on the movies and books I choose not to keep because I won’t return to them, lands me in a spot where I feel like my consumption is as positive as it can be. One of my greatest joys is just going around some charity shops and seeing what appears, finding films I’ve never heard of but suddenly am dying to see. Physical media is massively enriching to me especially, but as you say, some of the things we own are memories themselves, not just the thing you see in front of you, and there is a beauty in that. Being aware of what to get rid of and what to keep is I think really the key to having a healthier relationship with what we’re consuming and our attitude towards those things

Great work Jess, really thought provoking essay for me (if not evident by this ridiculously long response… sorry)