Posted by Canadian Dream on August 27, 2009
I think they spike electronics so when you get near them you breath in some addictive chemical which keeps you looking at things for way longer than you should. Or something else, because I seem to be abnormally attracted to some gadgets. My current obsessive thoughts are about getting an ebook reader.
I know that in all practical terms I don’t need one. Actually I would have limited use for one since most of my books come from the library. So that would leave me reading a highly limited number of books which I would have to pay for while paying like $300 to $400 for the thing. Not really a good investment, since the technology is likely to improve over the next few years and the price will drop.
Yet despite all of that I still find myself wanting one. Hence the title of the post: why do I want stupid gadgets? It’s like a drug or hard wired problem in my brain. I think perhaps I’m obsessed with the idea of carrying a few hundred books in a light weight object. It is irrational but I know the source of the obsession is those lovely ‘news articles’ that tell you about new product releases like somehow it is ok to have an ad posing as an article when the product is brand new.
So how am I dealing with this new obsession? Actually fairly simple. I’m putting the thing on my Christmas wish list and ignoring it for the next few months. I’ve done with many times over the years and it seems to work out well. It costs too much for most people to bother buying it so I won’t likely get it, but I might get some gift cards I can use on it. In the mean time I can save up for it and buy it myself after Christmas if I’m still obsessing.
So what irrational things do you obsess over? How do you manage your obsession?
Posted by Canadian Dream on July 20, 2009
I was recently reading a book which pointed out something very important. Marketing is all about making you unsatisfied and unhappy. After all if you were happy and content you won’t need to buy what they were selling would you. For some reason this concept was never that obvious to me.
So that to me that begs the question are people who avoid ads (by not watching TV for example) in general more happy than those that don’t? I did a brief look around for some information on that question and came up with this link. So in a generalized statement it appear a study has shown that TV does in fact make you less happy, but is it the ads or the shows (or is there really a difference anymore)? To be honest I’m not sure, but the concept is still interesting.
So let’s step back and examine this in a larger context. So watching TV makes you unhappy and provides you with ideas on ways to spend money on things that make you temporarily happy until you watch more TV and feel unhappy again. WOW, that has the potential to be a down right evil cycle to get sucked into! No wonder people I run into who are in this cycle don’t seem all that happy in their lives.
Is that what’s wrong with us? Too many ads and wants from those ads for things we don’t need. I don’t think it’s the only reason, but there does seem to be a good idea on watching less TV or subjecting yourself to ads. You could end up happier and buying less stuff. Then if you are really smart you could save part of that money to leave work earlier and likely have a better retirement since you actually have interests outside of a TV.
It would be an interesting experiment to do for someone who does watch a fair amount of TV. Cut back for a month and see if your spending drops as well and if you seem happier. I would do it myself, but I suspect my three hours a week on TV are really not influencing me all that much. So do you know anyone who cut back on ads, did it make them happier and spend less or not?
