The changing notions of materialism and status in an increasingly dematerialized world

One of the first things we do each morning – for some of us even before we get out of bed – is to check how our digital self is doing. What messages have we received on WhatsApp or WeChat? Who has tagged us in photos on Facebook? [What are those whose tweets we are] following saying? What is [the weather today?] How is our bank account doing? Who has shown an interest in our dating profile? How does our Fitbit or Apple Watch say we have slept? Rather than directly taking stock of our body to see how we are doing, we increasingly turn to our digital devices to see how we are. More accurately, we seek to find out how our digital doppelgänger is doing (Bode and Kristensen 2016). This estranged other or second self is our digital self, a self that is increasingly displacing our corporeal flesh and blood self in terms of its importance in our lives. Our avatars, selfies, and social media profiles are also who we are to those we encounter online. We would rather communicate through these doppelgängers than face-to-face, sometimes even when we are in the same room with someone. And we increasingly talk to Artificial Intelligence (AI) digital assistants in our homes, vehicles, and phones. We get our news, music, films, and messages through our digital devices. We feel naked without these extensions of self (Belk 2013). Our world is becoming more and more digital. And with digitization and the internet, we may well feel more anonymous, invisible, fanciful, and even imaginary. On the other hand, we may feel under constant surveillance, a lack of privacy, and a sense of vulnerability. Besides the changes the digital world has made in our notions and representations of self, it has also changed the nature of possessions. In many cases once-material objects have dematerialized. Books, magazines, letters, musical and film recordings, photographs, data, money, greeting cards, clocks, calendars, newspapers, travel agents, ticket agents, typewriters, translators, libraries, retail stores, banks, offices, and many other physical things have disappeared and been replaced by non-material digital equivalents, improvements, and innovations. With this dematerialization, some of the qualities that made certain objects luxuries, collectible, and valuable have also disappeared. Chief among these qualities are scarcity, uniqueness, and permanence. With the ease of digital duplication, the speed of digital online access, and the decline or disappearance of monetary cost for many