Thoughts about the PlayStation backlash and what it reveals about our culture

I made this post in this subreddit recently that I feel was entirely misunderstood. Admittedly, I made the post quickly and didn't convey my thoughts well. It was a good learning experience for me on how to communicate and I reflected on it for a couple of days. I decided to lay my thoughts out more clearly for myself and because it's still a discussion I'm interested in having.

Articulating my thoughts better

I joined r/anticonsumption as someone concerned about sustainability, but I see now that many people here are more concerned about consumers' relationships with the companies and how they exploit us. This is something that I am conscious of as well but it's not something that I cared to discuss because it's talked about to death on Reddit and even in real life, whereas I've observed that most people don't really think about sustainability and the ubiquity of plastic and its harms.

I had flaired my previous post Society/Culture because that was what I wanted to discuss, NOT consumer rights (which is important but I don't have anything to say about it that hasn't already been said a million times). After thinking for a while about my reaction after hearing the Sony news, and organizing my thoughts better, my thought main thought is:

People's defensiveness over the issue highlights some problems with our culture.

Black and white thinking

To most of the people concerned about the issue, it would be solved if Sony reversed the change and continued to produce physical media. It would be solved because they see the issue as black and white, consumer vs corporation. If the consumers win then the underdog has prevailed and justice with it.

My impression is that, when pointing out that reducing plastic production could be a positive side effect of the change, that people saw me as against them, because in their mind the issue has only two sides.

But there is a third side of the issue which is everyone affected by the production of physical media, e.g. people in communities affected by fracking (IMO the real underdogs). For them, this issue is NOT solved if we simply continue to produce much more plastic than we need to (which is the status quo).

People are largely ignorant of this and it's not our fault. We are heavily insulated from this by design but I think that this is exactly why it's important to bring it up.

Individualism and entitlement

I think there is a certain level of entitlement with wanting to keep physical media despite the environmental harm it entails. A lot of people (a lot, not all) have formed an identity being a gamer (or a movie buff, or a music fan, or whatever) and I believe their collection is an extension of that, whether they realize it or not. The idea that it could be taken away from them is a threat to their identity. Having it in physical form makes it something that they can display to guests and a digital collection doesn't have the same effect. Similarly, many fans buy physical media to signal their dedication as a fan or to connect with other fans, to feel like "part of the club" (think TSwift or K-pop fans that buy multiple versions of the same album).

Consumption as identity is a big issue in our culture and I'm sure many will disagree but I think we are seeing it here. If we could shift our mindset to a collective one and value sharing with each other, we may not even need to end physical media to be sustainable (although that might be a lot more difficult than simply reducing production).

Should we have had this much entertainment to begin with?

We are simply too spoiled in the Global North. It's embarrassing to read the headlines about how much the 10% richest people on earth (i.e. us) are the cause of so much environmental damage and exploitation. People think it's only the ultra-wealthy but it's us, too. The ultra-rich do more harm individually, but there are far, far more of us doing less harm individually, but a comparable amount collectively.

I used to be really into games myself but over the past few years I've more and more shunned them and feel similarly about TV, movies, even music. In my free time these days I almost only read, exercise, and create now. And I feel ashamed that I was, for so long, absorbed into this culture that encourages ongoing stimulation and escapism. I do think it can numb, distract, and isolate us if we're not careful, and that it does so for far too many.

Certainly, games and movies aren't bad; art is enriching and uniquely human and consuming it can be a very good thing, but to an extent. I really do not think that need all this entertainment on demand, that it's just another facet of our convenience culture. Streaming is similarly excessive. Before we had the technology, we would hear music live or we would go to the theatre and I think that's in many ways preferable to what we have now (though there could be a middle ground).

We should value the experiences we do get to have and not feel that we need it all on demand.

People aren't conscious enough about the entire footprint of physical items

I touched on this earlier but people really aren't conscious of the footprint of physical items. Even people in the comments of my last post only talked about how game discs aren't what's polluting the oceans but didn't acknowledge the full lifecycle of plastic production. No one that replied seemed to consider the extraction and transportation of materials, carbon emissions and pollution of the environment, and the effects that these things have on surrounding communities and wildlife.

On top of that, plastic takes hundreds of years to break down. People may cherish their collection while they're alive but it will outlast them, and not everything is going to be worth collecting. Things will get damaged. There are far more disks and cases produced than people who will hold on to outdated consoles. If we never stop producing them, we will eventually run out of space and these things will end up in our environment one way or another.

Discussions I'd like to see more of

From what I've seen, there's no discussion about how we could own our media while moving to a more sustainable model. It's not impossible to own digital files and use them offline. We can demand for consumer protections rather than demand to keep physical media.

Imagine if the US government announced that cars would stop being produced and imported to cut carbon emissions (unlikely but bear with me). That would be bad because the US is so car-dependent. But if, alongside it, they implemented robust public transit, infrastructure for more sustainable forms of transport, and 15-minute cities, it would be a largely beneficial change. However if you proposed this, people might argue that every one of us is entitled to our own personal car because the government could end public transit at any time. It's a valid concern, but that doesn't mean that the answer is to remain car-dependent, which is not sustainable. Rather, we should be talking about how we can rely on sustainable forms of transportation and that we are all provided for within that system.

People are happy to boycott (and don't get me wrong, I support boycotts and voting with our wallets), they are happy to push back against change but do not want to effect change (e.g. by demanding consumer rights). It's another example of people working to maintain the status quo.

And many only push back when it's a change that affects them. Again, I do understand that this is often because we are insulated from the costs of our consumption which is not our choice. But this knowledge is more widespread than ever and we should be educating each other and having these discussions. Personally I am grateful that there are people that have spoken up about it and enabled me to become a more conscious person. I would hope that if more people were made conscious of the full harm of plastic, especially beyond just where it ends up after use, that people would be more willing to eliminate it from their lives where they are able to.

Alienation

I didn't express this well in my original post, but what I really wanted to talk about is my alienation after the experience I had with my coworkers. And what I wanted to express is this: in the Global North, our whole lives are built on exploitation; exploitation of people, communities, animals, the environment. It can be hard to live with this knowledge and even harder to watch everyone around us participate in it without a second thought (I, of course, participate in it too, but I do so mindfully). But what really makes me feel lonely is that it feels as though I CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT IT!! Most people either dismiss anything that challenges their lifestyle, or they take any critique on culture as a personal attack if they participate in that culture to any degree. At best, they agree with you but don't take it to heart. This isn't just about plastic, it could be about cars, meat, anything.

But I honestly think the best way to change minds is to simply talk about these things more in daily conversation. I personally had my view changed from reading books and from people with a platform spreading these ideas online, but people that don't care aren't going to engage with this content. Similar to how a racist person won't watch a video on race topics, but being exposed to diverse groups of people often makes racists less racist.

I thought that this was something that a lot of people in the sub would relate to and might be able to speak to. I would really like to hear about people's experiences with this or with any of the things I expressed above.

I am not an expert on these things but I am always looking to learn and would welcome others' perspectives.