A few of the books I own.

… I would say proudly to my friends, and then seamlessly launch into a monologue about the wonders of “living in the future,” while also pointing out how all the things we previously stored in our homes now fit neatly onto a single flash-drive.

I don’t have any books on this flash drive, either.

It’s a tale for me that has seemed to rise to the surface more often than others. It so succinctly summarises both my desire for a technological future and my embrace of a minimalist, deliberate lifestyle.

But the reality is that I don’t have flash-drives full of great works of literature. I certainly don’t have an iPod containing my old CD collection. And movies? Well, they’ve had a particularly challenging time moving to digital.

So where did all this go wrong? Why don’t I have any of these things — digital or analogue — that the digital future promised?

Well, because of platforms.