From Flickering Reels to Streaming Screens: Balancing Nostalgia with Innovation

It is said that change is constant and essential for every human to adapt to a dynamic environment. But the real question is whether the shift occurring detains us from simple real-world pleasures. It would be an understatement to say that our phones or digital entertainment do not occupy most of our time.

Every alternate person you see on a daily basis is seen to be scrolling through reels on Instagram or watching an exciting show on Netflix. Be it lunch breaks, work hours, spending time outside, or even with company. These apps get ahold of us even if we aren’t consciously letting them. When we think about this, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing as entertainment is a way of life.

 The internet and digital era definitely has it’s advantages. Right from e-commerce platforms offering streaming platforms for education, entertainment, shopping websites and many other services to social media apps such as Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and many more providing entertainment and now, even a scope for many career ventures.

But the real dilemma starts where it affects how we live. You might have been a person who enjoyed going to the movie theatres as a ritual but now resort to OTT as it’s more convenient and easy on your wallet. You might have been someone who used to check up on your friends or get in touch with them on a call for their birthday, but now uploading an Instagram story feels more than enough. The songs you gatekeep don’t seem special anymore after a single reel blows up on the internet, and everyone knows your precious treasure. Intense fights with your sibling or family are a rare event now regarding which movie to watch during the weekend, as “eventually everything will be released on OTT.”

All of these may be elementary examples. Yet, they emphasize that we need to remember to enjoy the most minor things in the middle of catching up with the new age of technology. I post pictures of my favorite food, rewatch my favorite show at leisure, and have a laughter riot looking at hilarious memes, yet I’m still the person who prefers talking to my best friends on a call after a long day, loves going to the theatres just for the “big screen experience” and turns on the radio when I’m tired of my playlists on Spotify.

The world will keep changing. There’s going to be a ton of pathbreaking new technology and innovations. Still, it’s nice to hold onto some things that remind you that there was before and after. After all, what’s a good movie without an even better flashback?