Our cultural lives reduced to apps, streaming services

We no longer own the culture we consume; we rent it. From music to movies, books to personal archives, shelves have been replaced by subscriptions controlled by global platforms. There was a time when you could read a person’s life across their living room. Their shelves gave them away: albums played after breakups, books carried on holidays, guilty pleasure films.

Now when you finish a book or fall in love with a song, there is almost nothing to show for it. Shelves are mostly filled with decorative items...