21st-Century minimalist

It used to be that being a minimalist meant that you kept your belongings to a minimum.  Just the things you absolutely needed.  Some clothes, maybe a bed or cot, to live as spartanly as possible.  After reading an article published by the BBC about a person who had chosen a minimalist lifestyle, but still owned things, I was curious.  (You can read the article here.)

This person chose to keep all his possessions in a virtual state.  What do I mean by that?  Everything was digitized.  In today's land of huge hard drives, e-readers, laptops, and smartphones people have begun trading in CD/Movie colletions for digital files like MP3 or MP4.  With sites like flickr.com and photobucket,  photo albums no longer need to clutter bookshelves.  Books are downloaded to e-reader devices.  Save for some clothes, the article decribes the life of someone who is homeless, yet owns everything he wants.....an interesting concept.

The article really made me think.... How much of your life is online?  How much can you "give up" to minimize your footprint on the earth?  The answer is that I could stop buying actual paper books or newsprint no problem.  Music would be a little harder.  Movies....ok....  Nothing but you, a laptop, a hard drive, an e-reader, a smartphone, and only as many clothes as you can carry?  

I look around my apartment.....and I see more than possessions.  The picture of my grandmother that watches over me from her place on the wall, a bookcase my dad made for me.  A set of kitchen canisters that sat on my grandmother's counter for as long as I remember.....  Sure I could declutter and get rid of stuff.  It will be one HELL of a yard sale.  However, I am not ready to part with the memories that tie me to my past. 

Since I am a self proclaimed nerd, the thought of being able to live electronically is very exciting.  The ability to own everything you want but not have to store it is amazing. 

But what happens to the smaller pleasures of grabbing a favorite novel and being able to flip the pages?  Reading the liner notes on your old vinyl records or the CD jacket?  Thumbing through a photo album that someone painstakingly put together for you.....maybe over your lifetime (Thanks, Mom).

Will it mean the same when a couple of clicks of a mouse does it for you?  Read the article....and ask yourself if you can live this new '21st century minimalist' style.  I already know I'd fail.