In « Old Media/New Media », the definition and use of new media being a new perspective of technology got me thinking about the fetishization and idealization of old media because of new media. It has been trends for multiple decades to romanticize old media whether it be books, movies, music, or technology. As a generation, I’ve noticed this resurgence of old record keeping and collections. I’ve noticed that in the wave of new media and digital record keeping, there’s a distrust of whether it truly will forever keep everything accessible. Yes, things will always be on the internet or main frame, but it’s the question of whether or when it will stop being accessible to common people.
Over time, updates come and things need to be backed up or older versions won’t be able to be processed. While things stay forever, the digital format is growing so rapidly, websites and old applications even from ten years ago take much longer to load or don’t work. It happened to me when I tried playing a flash game that I played in middle school that no longer worked. Flash isn’t supported by my computer anymore and blockers won’t let me download it or bypass it.
Changing governments over time can also change the access to media. Government documents right now are being deleted from certain websites. While we can still access it as other forms or on other websites, going to the main place we usually find these documents and political information make it a step harder to find these things. This creates a form of censorship and real time evidence that historical information we thought we could have forever can be deleted or made harder to access in real time. In this era, we’re witnessing these things get harder to attain and we get worried.
I think this generation is scared of having their childhood memories be unattainable or unplayable because of slower systems not being able to work anymore or it being blocked from access. By fetishizing old media and using it like saving childhood books, 3D’s, or DvD’s, we are trying to save our childhood memories from being lost. As well as romanticizing old media like vinyls, we’re trying to create memories with things that can’t be taken away because it’s tangible, not digital.
BOOKS!!
ECL 596. Fall 2025. Professor Jessica Pressman with Anna Culbertson
Hi Janesa! I enjoyed reading your thoughts about the Old/New Media text, as I had some of the same thoughts myself. You discussed fetishization of old media because of new media, and how this romanticization of old media has been very prominent. This reminded me of people collecting the rare copies of Jane Austen books or other classics, I know people who collect these but do not even read the literature. It’s interesting how people are consuming this old media, but not actually consuming the literature. You talked about this with collecting old records, which is the same concept, fetishization of the old. Great post!
Hi Janesa, I really liked your post! I like how you describe the reasons for what seems to be a current rise in the fetishization of Old Media. I agree that an interest in specifically older physical media is a result the fear that “digital only,” objects or files could be easily lost over the years because of any of the reasons that you mentioned. I have a collection of vinyl records, CDs, DVDs, hard copies of books, and albums full of printed out pictures because I prefer their tangibility, when they are physically in my hands, I feel that they are more permanent, and that they could only be lost because of my actions or inability to upkeep them, not because of any changes in software or electronic tools. Thank you for your post!
Hi Janesa, I found your post to be really interesting. I liked how you discussed the way that old media is becoming more difficult to access. It makes you wonder how much has truly been lost to the rapid expansion of new media. I have also noticed this newfound obsession with nostalgia and returning to old media. I have found myself doing this by buying more physical books in order to have them if they do become obsolete, banned, or censored. It is an interesting phenomenon to pay attention to since it says a lot about our connection to technology.