Not all portable entertainment requires staring at a screen. In fact, the biggest boom in portable media has been audio.

Popular media personalities have jumped from the TV studio to the recording studio. You can now carry a library of celebrity interviews, true crime investigations, and daily news briefs directly in your earbuds.

Why download a movie when you can stream it? Services like Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube have decoupled content from physical hardware. The "portable" part is now the license to access a cloud library. This has led to "binge-watching" on commuter trains and listening to podcasts while hiking in remote areas (via offline downloads). Popular media is no longer something you own; it is something you summon.

Because our content travels with us, we are always aware that more content exists. The fear of missing out (FOMO) is exacerbated by push notifications. You aren't just watching a show; you are acutely aware that other people are discussing a different show right now on Twitter.