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# In Praise of Owning Stuff - Commonplaces
- URL: https://mereorthodoxy.com/jake-praise-owning-stuff/
- Published: 2018-09-12T06:00:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-20T19:57:00.000Z
- Description: Tyler Cowen thinks it is #actually good to own things instead of pay monthly subscription fees. He's almost certainly right.
- Author: Mere Orthodoxy
- Tags: Jake Meador

[Cowen](https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-08-12/american-ownership-society-is-changing-thanks-to-technology?ref=mereorthodoxy.com):

> Each of these changes is beneficial, yet I worry that Americans are, slowly but surely, losing their connection to the idea of private ownership. The nation was based on the notion that property ownership gives individuals a stake in the system. It set Americans apart from feudal peasants, taught us how property rights and incentives operate, and was a kind of training for future entrepreneurship. Do we not, as parents, often give our children pets or other valuable possessions to teach them basic lessons of life and stewardship?  
>  
> We’re hardly at a point where American property has been abolished, but I am still nervous that we are finding ownership to be so inconvenient. The notion of “possessive individualism” is sometimes mocked, but in fact it is a significant source of autonomy and initiative. Perhaps we are becoming more communal and caring in positive ways, but it also seems to be more conformist and to generate [fewer empire builders](https://read.macmillan.com/lp/the-complacent-class/?ref=mereorthodoxy.com) and entrepreneurs.

Last month my family stayed at a friend’s house while on vacation. There were two unusual things we found: First, they had a record player and a nice vinyl collection we enjoyed during our stay. Second, they did not have wifi. Both of those things relate to what Cowen is developing above, I think. While it is obviously possible to become enslaved by the things we own, it is also true that ownership of physical things often helps preserve a right kind of independence and self-sufficiency, such that one can have what one needs or enjoys without having to pay a monthly fee or purchase expensive devices from a large tech company in order to do so. When that kind of ownership is lost, we move ourselves (voluntarily!) one step closer to a sort of technocratic dystopia of the sort that long concerned Neil Postman.