I don't get it.

This seemingly endless, insatiable desire for a new ( fill in the blank )

Phones are the first to come to mind. If you got a new one, let's say last year, why are you all in a tizzy to get the new one that rolls out this year ? Does it do something significantly different ?
No ?
Then why go spend $1000 on a new one ?
( Don't get me started on why you'd spend $1000 on a phone to begin with )

They moved the charging port and the screen is 1/10th of an inch bigger ( or smaller ) you say ?
Oh well why didn't you say so ! THAT explains it.

Lemme ask...
Do you buy a new washer and dryer every year ?
A new coffee maker ?
Microwave ?
Car ?
TV ? ( come on now...you have to have that latest 4 billion k/HD/voice activated thingamobob ! Gotta be able to see the single hair in that mole on the pitchers left knuckle or it just ain't baseball amirite !?)

What about a new laptop or PC ?
Refrigerator ?

No ? Why not ?
Seriously....Why. Not.?

a reply to: DAVID64

Don't forget the absence of money$$$, so how about a new credit card? The old ones aren't paid off, but that does not matter, because (new item)!!!

Yeah, I do not get it, too.

But thats the way to keep the economy up and running, so it will never be shut down.

a reply to: DAVID64

Don't get me started on why you'd spend $1000 on a phone to begin with

The word phone is now defined as : A hand held personal computing device.

a reply to: DAVID64

my phone cost £10, it makes calls, texts, and has the snake game, costs me £10 per month, i only access the internet on my laptop at home, reading stuff online is not important so never seen the need for a computer phone, if anyone needs me they have to do the old fashioned phonecall lol

My work supplies mine. I get a new every 5 years wether i need it or not. Usually when its no longer supported lol

a reply to: DAVID64

My ipad is 6 years old and will not update to the newest operating system so I cant use some games and apps now.
I will be shopping for a new tablet soon.

3 yr old phone and I've already decided to find a nice $300 Motorola or similar instead of apple or Samsung models.
Apple used to be cutting edge and now it's just brand recognition... not for me.

Our xbox360 was dying so I got a new xbox one around xmas....

2012 Ford fusion.
2013 ford f150.

I also dont understand the need for the latest and greatest. But sometimes ya gotta upgrade.

a reply to: DAVID64

**SIGH**

Don't you see??? The cell phone is the only remaining status symbol. You're "coolness" number drops by 1,000 points if you only have a Samsung S-53 phone, and not the new S-59 model, or the new Infinity i-phone model. I mean seriously, if you're stumbling around in the dark ages with an old i-Phone XS model, you're so...so...well, yesterday! Get with the program, man! Sheesh!

Old cars are cool, but old phones are so...NOT!! OMG!!!!

You know you also have to have the pockets in your jeans fixed so your phone hangs out a certain way so everyone can see what it is! I mean, it's like the "thing" now. Didn'y you know that?????

ETA - I recently had to actually "buy" my first phone. Prior to that I've had a company phone for eons. You can't even believe how my coolness factor jumped when people saw I was sporting an S-9. Hell, I didn't even know what that was!! At first I thought I had some kind of an affliction on my lip or something when people would say...."Is that an S-9???". I thought it was some new Herpes simplex or sumthing. When I went in the store to get my new phone the guy was actually astonished I had an "ancient" S-4! He was talking like I'd recovered some artifact from the Great Pyramids or something, and wanted to take pictures of it (presumably to post on Ripley's Believe it or not). And you should have seen the response when I told him the S-4 had replaced a Blackberry!! He was all like...."Black...Berry??? W-W-What is THAT?" I told him they had to pry that thing out of my crooked fingers to get me to give it up (he didn't hear me; he was furiously Google searching the words "Black" and "Berry")

a reply to: DAVID64

But Dude, your phone is so 2018. Even my Grandma has a better phone than that. I wouldn't be seen dead calling 911 on that thing!

As for the TV, a new better one came out. Obviously I had to have it. Because it is newer and better yanno.

As for coffee, I only buy that at the trendy expensive coffee bar. Home-made tastes awful.

Did someone say free* credit card?

(* Free may not equal free really. Conditions apply.)

a reply to: DAVID64

I could not care less about the latest phones. I'm still using my Samsung Galaxy A5 and probably will until it's unusable. I do, however, like to upgrade my computer every few years since I'm a gamer.

Everything else is replaced as it dies.

It's brainwashing plain and simple. TV and Internet say's you must have them, all your friends do, and your a pos if your phone is old. Don't have the newest one, wtf are you poor or something? There is a good book called Propaganda by Edward Bernays which talks a bit about the psychology of when a man or woman buy's a car, etc, why they do it, and so on.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

I think my coolness factor is like Winter temps at the North Pole....below zero and dropping fast.

Only thing I buy new yearly is work boots.

I know, I know, horrible priorities.

a reply to: DAVID64

I try for 'Negative Infinity'.

That way, if I'm above Absolute Zero I done good.

PMA, you know...PMA!

There are a whole lot of unhappy people; they are very uncomfortable in their own skin. Therefore they seek gratification by coughing up bucks they don't have to buy stuff they don't need.

"I NEED that huge-screen TV!"

riiiight


It's all about "want."

originally posted by: DAVID64
This seemingly endless, insatiable desire for a new ( fill in the blank )

Phones are the first to come to mind. If you got a new one, let's say last year, why are you all in a tizzy to get the new one that rolls out this year ? Does it do something significantly different ?
No ?
Then why go spend $1000 on a new one ?
( Don't get me started on why you'd spend $1000 on a phone to begin with )

They moved the charging port and the screen is 1/10th of an inch bigger ( or smaller ) you say ?
Oh well why didn't you say so ! THAT explains it.

Lemme ask...
Do you buy a new washer and dryer every year ?
A new coffee maker ?
Microwave ?
Car ?
TV ? ( come on now...you have to have that latest 4 billion k/HD/voice activated thingamobob ! Gotta be able to see the single hair in that mole on the pitchers left knuckle or it just ain't baseball amirite !?)

What about a new laptop or PC ?
Refrigerator ?

No ? Why not ?
Seriously....Why. Not.?

Now you know why a lot of people are broke. Most people do not know how to live below their means.

I am still on my Samsung s7. The new s10 does not look significantly better in terms of features / performance, so I really see no reason to upgrade.

The problem Apple and Samsung have is that the tech is just progressing incrementally now. There was a huge difference between my s5 and s7. Night and day performance wise. The camera alone was worth the upgrade. However, you don't have that huge of a leap now, so there is a less compelling case for spending money on upgrading.

How about the notion of ''planned obsolescence'' gone wild. Decades ago, the manufacturing sector of our economy discovered that if they manufactured items that did not break down or wear out, people would not buy enough new ones to keep the profits flowing into the company. So, planned obsolescence was developed whereby items would break down or wear out so as to bring the consumer back to the store for another. Usually that new one would have been advertised as ''bigger and better and more durable'' than the last one.

The reality, as CosmicAwakening points out above, is that the manufacturing industries have learned that for the most part people are malleable and have as well found ways to turn peoples wants into needs. We used to hold that needs were much more important than wants. Wants always took second place to needs when it was time to purchase something. Through Madison Avenue advertising using the latest discoveries in psychology and human conditioning have dissolved that line between the two, turning wants into needs and so there we have it.

originally posted by: DAVID64
This seemingly endless, insatiable desire for a new ( fill in the blank )

Phones are the first to come to mind. If you got a new one, let's say last year, why are you all in a tizzy to get the new one that rolls out this year ? Does it do something significantly different ?
No ?
Then why go spend $1000 on a new one ?
( Don't get me started on why you'd spend $1000 on a phone to begin with )

They moved the charging port and the screen is 1/10th of an inch bigger ( or smaller ) you say ?
Oh well why didn't you say so ! THAT explains it.

Lemme ask...
Do you buy a new washer and dryer every year ?
A new coffee maker ?
Microwave ?
Car ?
TV ? ( come on now...you have to have that latest 4 billion k/HD/voice activated thingamobob ! Gotta be able to see the single hair in that mole on the pitchers left knuckle or it just ain't baseball amirite !?)

What about a new laptop or PC ?
Refrigerator ?

No ? Why not ?
Seriously....Why. Not.?

Well your question regarding phones/computers is simple.

Software. As time goes on more and more software requires more and more resources. Our phones become oudated from a power/resource standpoint. The batteries wear out and dont last as long on a full charge, they get a scratch or a ding or 2. After a year or 2 of owning a phone, we load it so full of pictures , apps, and software that it gets slow, and bogged down.. stops working properly. Add new features, bigger screen, more efficient battery to the upside of a new device and viola theres your reason for a new phone.

Computers are the same way. New software that requires more resources.. or hardware that you have that has worn down or become bogged down over time. New features being implemented that make things faster/simpler etc. All the reason to upgrade.

TV's? Thats an easy one. When you have a 720p TV, and you see a large 1080p TV and compare it, its better, so you want one. When you compare a regular 1080p TV to a 4k TV, it clearly looks better, and so you dont think "Is what I have good enough?" you think "Is my current experience the best it could possibly be?" When the answer is no, youre going to want a better experience.

This lends itself to everything in life. If your mentality is, "Is it good enough?" then chances are, you probably wont buy alot of things or subscribe to consumer culture.. however, if (when it comes to all your stuff) you ask.. "am I having the best possible experience right now?" and the answer is no... youre always going to be looking for the next thing.

Things get old, and boring and we are constantly searching for something new and exciting to break up the monotony of our lives.

originally posted by: CosmicAwakening
It's brainwashing plain and simple. TV and Internet say's you must have them, all your friends do, and your a pos if your phone is old. Don't have the newest one, wtf are you poor or something? There is a good book called Propaganda by Edward Bernays which talks a bit about the psychology of when a man or woman buy's a car, etc, why they do it, and so on.

Here is a quick primer on Edward Bernays by our very own Mr Mask.





Respectfully,
~meathead

a reply to: DAVID64

I saw an ad at a gas station pump of all places for a foldable samsung galaxy phone.

Whoever thought to themselves "I could really get out of this jam if only my phone could fold"

It's not about putting out a good product. It's about putting out a useless gimmick that dumb people will be enamored by.

a reply to: DAVID64

I was always told to ask myself.................Is it a want or a need?