“You will own nothing and be happy.” Once a phrase used by the World Economic Forum, pulled from an essay written by Danish politician Ida Auken, it is now the unofficial rallying cry for companies around the globe. As they saw consumers gravitating more and more towards the digital instead of the physical for convenience and space-saving benefits, these companies also saw dollar signs.

There used to be a time when you could buy an item, and you just owned the version of that item which you’d purchased. Outside of the result of things like wear and tear, it remained exactly the item you’d purchased without adulteration. Books, music, movies, TV shows, computer programs, video games, you could purchase copies of all of these things and they would be there waiting for you, the same item you’d purchased, whenever you decided you wanted to use or enjoy them.

That is no longer guaranteed in the reality in which we currently find ourselves.

Services like iTunes or Amazon Kindle may purport to sell you the song or book you think you purchased from them, but what you’re actually purchasing is a license to access that piece of media. If they happen to lose the rights to that piece of intellectual property, you also lose access to that piece of media. Similarly, these companies have the ability to update the files for which you purchased this limited license. This means things like typos that were caught after publication in that e-book you “bought” might be able to be corrected, but it also means that a company can choose to do things like censor what is available to their customers, or remove items from their libraries altogether.

You will own nothing and be happy.

Users being forced to update software they are also forced to subscribe to now, but which they previously were able to buy outright. Songs and books disappearing out of people’s libraries because artists and authors are no longer working with that service. Content silently being edited to censor controversial subjects or information. All of this and more in exchange for not having to keep space on a bookshelf, or pack up an extra box when you move.

Do you know what can’t be censored by the publisher after I’ve bought it? A book made from paper. Nor do any of my CDs stop working if the store I bought it from suddenly stops carrying that artist. Episodes from my favorite TV shows don’t disappear from their DVDs if all of a sudden they’re deemed to contain “controversial” subjects or something else just as stupid. Whatever typos made it past author, editor, and publisher are still on the pages for me to highlight or underline in red pen or whatever it is that normal people do when they find a typo in a book.

No one should have to worry that the book they’re reading was edited after they bought it based on the personal beliefs of someone in the government or at Amazon (or wherever). Nor should anyone have to worry that they’ll wake up to pieces of their library missing, or about needing to pay (usually outrageous) subscription fees for products they used to be able to purchase outright.

But even aside from those things, there’s a lot to be said about the difference in the actual experience of engaging with physical media. The tactile feel and the smell of reading an old, well-loved book in your favorite chair. The ability to still put on your favorite show or movie when the internet is out. Listening to your favorite album when you want without worrying about the ethical implications of the artist not receiving enough (or possibly any) money from your streaming service of choice. Even just being able to curate a collection that speaks to the things you love, and importantly, the ability to access those things that bring you joy, is more important than we may realize in this age of digital convenience.

Having a digital collection in lieu of a physical collection for things like books, music, TV shows, and movies saves a lot of space and a lot of back pain when you’re moving, believe me I get it. But you do at least own each item once you’ve bought them, instead of it being something that you purchase the right to access on a potentially very limited basis.

You don’t need to buy brand new; go check out a local thrift store or record shop, where there are second-hand treasures just waiting to be discovered. Not to mention, it’s not like you even have to actually purchase physical copies all of the media you enjoy; supporting and borrowing from your local library is both cool AND sexy.

Despite the previous sentence, I feel it’s necessary to explicitly state that I am not trying to push consumerism. As previously mentioned, libraries are our friends! I also recognize that physical items create more physical waste in the long term, no matter how well-loved something is by its original owner (though I think it’s worth considering the energy use implications of things like digital libraries that live in the cloud and/or which are accessed via streaming). However, I do want to suggest that maybe we rethink supporting the large corporations that are using media we enjoy and products we often need to use for one reason or another to actively exploit us.

You can own the things you enjoy (or borrow them from the library) and be happier than the digital and streaming overlords would like you to be.

You will own something and be happy.