A Revolt Against the Modern World We Knew, The End of the Experience?

A Revolt Against the Modern World We Knew, The End of the Experience?

By: Erreh Svaia

CRANEOSCOPIO

Prior to the emergence of the new coronavirus, the “experience economy” seemed to have come to stay, the "influencers", those characters with accounts on social networks and thousands of followers, bore witness to "lifestyles" that were intended to be imposed (regularly sponsored by brands, companies or by the government itself), the desire for travel, the obsession with clothes and the overwhelming love for food, thus a whole new economy was imposed that dictated the triumph of the ephemeral and the deepening of consumerism to a new level, why invest in a house, a car or even a career? If you could travel the world and fill yourself with "experiences" to share on Facebook or Instagram, why consider only 4 seasons, if you could take new clothes from the shelves every week? Thus, the rise of "fast fashion", which imposed a frenetic step of consumption of clothes that should be presumed on social networks, this added to the idolatry for the food, wines and restaurants that had made everyone "sommeliers", or "Michelin" critics from the Internet.

Today it seems that this adventurous craving for travel will stop at crowded airports, bus or train stations, or become more complicated by the imposition of 14-day quarantines to enter another country (or even another state or city). ), which will limit the "travel adventure" only to local sites, visits to restaurants will surely decrease, due to the desire of people to isolate themselves and maintain social distance motivated by post-contingency paranoia, in a challenge to the imagination and creativity of these businesses to keep their customers and keep their businesses afloat, "open-air restaurants", "restaurants without roofs or walls", "restaurants with few tables", "entrance restaurants by appointment only", this at the same time that the proliferation of home service will be strengthened thanks to digital platforms, whose timid rise seems to have made the most of the arrival of pandemic, to take hold and give a boost to those who already saw the era of decline of physical establishments coming.

 Surely we will enter a reinforced era of "Netflix & Chill", expanded by the arrival of other "streaming" platforms promoted by Disney or Amazon, which will take us almost permanently to the so-called "nesting" or by staying longer in home and go out less on weekends, perhaps no longer for economic reasons and more for reasons of prevention, home entertainment will become a difficulty and an opportunity for establishments such as cinemas or theaters, which will have to evolve and find the way to survive this new “normality”, which opens the direct door to consumer homes in a business model that will undoubtedly be very similar to “streaming”, if the popularity of open television seemed to falter on arrival From Netflix, it is possible that the way we see cinema is a very different one in some years, and cinema as a physical venue must evolve into something else.

The return to physical stores is reeling towards the future, recently we were already talking about the possible end of physical stores due to the arrival of business models such as Amazon, which made the experience of online shopping, a process with some appeal that could compete with establishments, which would continue with the possible decline of shopping centers and stores, in the case of shopping centers, very surely, as we have seen in other countries, in the case of the physical store, they will be modifying their dynamics, in something similar to what happens in an barber shop or in a spa, in which access will be by appointment and for a limited time, which will become a challenge for brands, in order to attract information and effectively “bombard” the customer in order to share in the shortest amount of time with the customer, the largest number of offered items that are intended to be sold.

Another important point in this moment of decline of the "experience economy" seems to be a new approach in the "millennial" generation, which seems to take it to what seemed impossible at any given moment, to rethink the concepts of home, work and time, which previously had, the need for a real house and a stable job seems to be suddenly becoming very different concepts to those previously thought by this generation, because the house could go from being just a place to sleep, in a place to stay for long periods of time, the need for more space, a garden perhaps, far from the crowds of modern apartments, even a place to work (home office), the same job, would become something that it is desired to be preserved at all costs, as unemployment caused by the post-pandemic begins to become a real and palpable threat, including the automobile as a means of mobility, will be revalued due to the inconvenience of the possible risk of traveling on public transport or an Uber, Wait for something? “Waiting” seemed inconceivable to the millennials, and it will now become a necessity for a house, a car, a job, and even for shopping.

We are facing a new reality without a doubt.