m. Leaf-tierney || mattleaf.com

It's interesting the effect the internet has on the physical world.

Apart from say, your workplace, major downloading would predominantly take place in the home.

The internet essentially "homes" culture. For instance, dudes can now wank in the privacy of a bedroom, instead of the cubicle of a live peep-show booth.

Because as it goes, locally, Shaft Cinema Complex recently closed down. A stalwart in the Melbourne porn-club ring for years, internet finally killed the porno-store.

Not only that, probably my favourite Video shop in Melbourne, Movietime Video, which is based in St Kilda, is closing down - a 27 years old family business is closing down for good. This place was so good for anything, to the oldest, sun-faded VHS you would never find anywhere. I guess you can find it on the net? But hey, there ain't no turning back. They've already sold off two thirds of their stock.

And this sort of shit saddens me. I'm not so sure if the Internet is actually doing anything transcendental like saving the environment, or reducing production - but the question remains whether staying at home in your bedroom beats going out into the world?

Like the death of good independent record stores - to me ultimately the Internet is gripping slowly towards a death of the public cultural sphere.

But then, I'm not so sure it's a finite, definite thing. A time will come when we'll look up from all the Hard Drives and cum stains all over the walls, and think to look outside the window. There's a world out there. Ultimately much of what the internet has done is to allow me to have it all, from home.

And then one day we go outside to find all the shops barricaded, bookstores are locked up, video stores are no more and there are no record stores to browse through. Just a swathe of bars with a million drunken imbeciles. But at least you can buy shoes, clothes aren't downloadable? Are they?

But then you have to think what kind of culture we are becoming. There was a time when the culturalists used the public sphere, now Facebook is the new street. What does it mean, if one of the biggest successes of the internet (from God knows who's point of view), is to have kept culturally and socially aware people inside their homes?

Maybe that's the true definition of a homey.

Will we turn around and say hey, I'm bored of this, maybe I'll open a record shop? Maybe it's time to open an old bookstore?

Outside will be the new cool, vintage will be what's real, real action happens with real people, and internet users will be seen for the cheap, screen addicted, dark-room cretins that they really are.