Has technology diminished our appreciation of physical aethetics in exchange for convenience?

I was recently looking at various box sets for the original Star Trek tv series from the 2004 dvd set: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Original-Complete-Seasons/dp/B0002JJBZY/ To the new 50th Anniversary set: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Anniversary-Movie-Collection-Blu-ray/dp/B01GRW4A64 And even the older Laserdiscs: https://www.amazon.com/Star-Trek-Laser-Original-55-Assignment/dp/B00190WAIA And it got me thinking. Today I could even download all those to my computer if I wanted. It would be very convenient. But, it wouldn't feel special. Let me explain it this way: Scenario 1: I fire up my laptop, put on my headphones and watch Star Trek, anywhere, anytime. Scenario 2: I carefully pull out a large laserdisc out of it's sleave and place it in the tray of the Pioneer laserdisc player. I sit on the couch and watch Star Trek on my huge rear projection tv with big 80s box speakers on either side and enjoy the 2 episodes per disc. (one episode per side). Now of course you could watch Star Trek on blu-ray with your skinny enough to mount on a wall 4k lcd tv and micro bose/sony/whatever tiny speakers and seperate sub for that home theatre experience. But it still cheapens the physical aesthetics of the whole experience. I don't mean to say that convenience itself is bad. What I intend to say is that every little compromise made for everday convenience chips away at the total emotional experience of the event itself. Quantity over quality of the experience. Another example is cameras. Most people just use their phones because it's good enough for facebook or whatever. Even if you use a separate or pro camera you can just machine gun as many pictures as you want in a row to get the few you decide to keep. With older manual film cameras you actually have to take your time. You need to check the light with your meter, set the proper exposure and iso and carefully frame your shots because you only have 24 exposures per roll. It's not just about getting some quick pics for facebook. Many people enjoyed the whole physical experience itself of setting the camera up, taking just the right pictures and (hopefully) seeing the results of their hard work. It's sort of like we are now so focused on getting to a "good enough" end results that we no longer enjoy the process of getting there or enjoy taking our time to get the best results. It's like cooking. It's much easier to order food or fix something instant than spend 2 hours carefully fixing a good meal but the end result of that 2hr meal is much more satisfying. I'm not sure if younger generations can fully grasp what I mean.

It does make sense. I recently pulled out the Amiga system from the garage to have a look at it. Thing still runs fine although I do have the emulator paid for on the PC system but often times I run it directly from the amiga itself just because of the experience. Specially using its controllers <3 The same can be said having fun rummaging through Amiga DOS too! :D

It has diminished quite a few things, but only if you let it go that far(yea, a lot of ppl have gone pretty far). For instance text messaging and social media: Can't walk up to knock your buddie's door anymore and talk face to face or hear each other's voice even. Lot of people go with majority of population: "thats how we do it" mentality. But a household will influence youngins on how to interact with others quite a big deal. If mama lookin down at her smartphone all the time and sorta ignores other ppl on the street, the kids will think thats a "norm." On the other end of the spectrum you can get that wholesome: "talk, communicate to your neighbors/community" experience. In any case the nature of the tech industry beast and everything in 'murrica is consumer driven(get service, convenience, etc. instead of doing it yourself). Now its ok to grab in new tech influences, but in moderate balance and for what you wanna replace/let go of. (Like if you're willing to give up chopping skills for a Magic Bullet its up to you). Or you can use the magic bullet and chop yourself occasionally to keep the 'ol feeling.

I still prefer physical items myself. Playing minecraft made me wanna get back into lego for example. I've also got a pretty decent collection of hard copy games because they feel more 'real' to me than games bought on steam.

The quality of many experiences depends on the amount of effort and often money you're willing to spend on it. You can only spend your money once. Most people can't afford a high-end sports car, professional in-home theater and a art collection so we pick one to go all out on and set for average on the others. This is why many people settle for smartphone pictures or watching movies on their laptop, it's not an priority and it's good enough. If I was a multi millionaire I would also buy a nice car instead of borrowing my mums and buy the best in-home entertainment money could buy, but I'm not and thus I settle for the best I can get with the little money I have. Such is life.

A physical copy just feels more real to me I don't have to worry about it as much as a I have to worry about whats on this computer. My computer can die the hardrive can break over night for seemingly no reason and I could be hacked, So when I can I always like to have a physical copy of the things I love or like. I just enjoy the feeling not having to worry about it, after all I work from home so I spent most of my time at home so if these items where ever to be in danger most likely so am I in danger but my computer can die without any input from me so its completely out of my control. Control is what I seem to lack digitally thus why I don't trust it as much. That might be alittle off topic but it got me thinking so I just went with that train of thought.

I totally get what you're saying. Pictures on a computer are never the same as an old school photo album. And I haven't found a digital camera yet that I liked. All the automatic features make it easier, but at the same time, you lose more and more control. It's the difference between having a hundred thousand song on your computer, and having shelves of vinyl records. The ease of technology can totally diminish the enjoyment of the experience.