Culture, are we changing yet?
"..But you're one of the start-up people everyone's talking about. That sounds pretty rockstar to me." Well, fair enough. I might be just that. With all its clichés. That's indeed exceptional and great. Still, there are things that should be highlighted. Just because they are rather unusual, which I am more than ever aware of.
One thing I've noticed repetitively, is what I might want to call the AirBnB- factor. It's something I consider worth a note as it's so bold and rather different than what our society would define as 'normal'; As the standard of the 'middle class' if you know what I mean.
In the start-up world flexibility is what seems most important. We're flexible in terms of jobs, homes and relationships. Being able to come and leave seems like the thing of the hour. Any place we've dreamed of visiting one day in the future, we can now call home anytime we decide we want to. We can go wherever we want; Do whatever we like. We can live in the now and not care about (our) future.
For some of us, it means to live out of a suitcase. That might of course be amazing and I admire people who can actually do this consequently, but there are also a few who like to keep their homes, their things, their memories somewhere together. There are people, who like to keep some security defined by having a place they can always go back to.
More and more I seem to be meeting people who sublet their apartments. When you're gone for a few months or regularly for a few days every week, it seems like the thing to do. When I say sublet, I don't necessarily mean that you'd clear out your personal things and actually sublet. It's much rather 'borrowing' your things to someone who needs them more than you do. You leave your house with a stranger and change the bed sheets every time you come back to what you still call home.
While the general idea of being an adult and having a relationship with someone is build on the idea of shared possessions; On shopping for things together. In the start up world 'home' as such seems to have become less of a private matter. In the physical aspect it's a place that's defined by personal goods for use and not as much as a place curated and filled with objects indicating certain status. We keep a home as a symbol of security we seem to be in need of.
While home is still somewhere personal pictures are on display, we seem to have gotten comfortable with the idea of having other people use our possessions. We share and we share for real. Also, this time it's not a sign of poverty. It's rather the complete opposite: We share as a sign of chosen luxury, following our hunger for freedom. Home in the start-up world is not defined by what we have. Much rather it's defined by the self-acknowledgement of who we are. Objects become things we use, not things we possess. Now there is just one more question to ask.. Is this a bubble that's going to burst? Or is home about to change its status for real? You tell me.
