Sure, it's good to have lots of fun products to choose from. But there's a limit.
A couple of days ago I did a little post about TVs. Let's start there. I have a 26-inch LCD TV which I like a lot. I bought it a couple of years ago, it has a great picture, and works great.
This past month I have been considering buying a 32-inch or 37-inch TV and maybe giving my current TV to my daughter.
But if you walk into a store, well, all they can talk about is how BIG a TV you can buy. Looking for a 32-inch? Don't be crazy, dude! (I hate that term!) Check out this 60 inch plasma! LCD? Hey, dude! Can't go under 46 inches man! Get real, dude!
I am real. I know what I want. And if some 20 something calls me "dude" there may be one less "dude" working at that store! Heh! Want to go big?? Here's a picture of an 82-inch LCD TV!
But wait. You can buy a 108-inch model if you like. I think there are movie theatres with smaller screens than some of these new TVs!
How about a cell phone? My phone looks pretty much like this one. People call these clam shell phones. It works great.
Most people today buy a phone that looks like this. It does everything you can do at your computer and you know what? You can even use it as a phone!
Don't get me wrong. I think all these new and improved products are great. I would love to have a few new things, too. But what I don't like is this mentality I seem to see in so many people who feel they have to have the newest, biggest, fastest and most incredible product on the market.
I am reminded of a West Wing episode when Aimee Mann is singing a James Taylor song at the House of Blues.
Donna is talking to Josh and says
"there are 53 players on an NFL team. The University of Colorado has 130. Eighty-five are on full scholarship. I'm all for back ups and substitutes, but can't the guy who's fourth on the depth chart at right outside linebacker also be fourth on the depth chart at left outside linebacker?
If a college football team cut back to 70 scholarships they would still be 3 deep and still have a fourth string punter and place kicker. Fifteen scholarships ..... that's a wrestling team."
Well, what the heck? I love the West Wing and this is a clip from one of my favorite episodes. It's too much for a blog post but I'm going to be a glutton. Enjoy if you have the time!
7 comments:
I still have the "original" iPhone, which was a gift as my clamshell phone was dying. And I love it to death! But I won't replace it until it really quits working; seems to have developed some dead spots, but I've figured out how to get around them. Two years ago we upgraded to a 42" Flat Screen from a 26" Standard TV, but it was more a functional decision than anything else. I wanted the TV and stand off the floor taking up space for other furniture. So I got a good deal and slapped it up above the fireplace. We basically buy when things break or when we can pass something down to someone else in need. I think that's a good way to rein in overpurchasing.
Also, both hubby and I are huge fans of The West Wing. We loved watching the noon re-runs when we both worked at home. I miss it!
I don't like the "dude" thing either, but even worse to me is the 18 year old waitress who comes to our table and in a high squeaky voice askes "Can I start you guys off with a drink or an appetizer right away?" I don't like the fake voice and I don't like being called "you guys."
I love technology and my computer and phone, but I don't replace them with the latest and greatet unless they are broken. It's the same thing with buying houses. Why does a one child family need five bedrooms and five baths and a 4500 square foot house? Materialistic gorging is a great title for your post!
I am sometimes embarrassed by the dearth of electronics and other things that I don't have -- one of them being a cell phone.
Manufacturers create a product and then they create the market to which to sell the product. And once they have everyone in the market hooked on the product, the manufacturer convinces folks they need the "newer model" -- last year's is out of date.
It's kind of like drug pushers who start people out on soft drugs and then escalate them up until people are hopelessly and impossibly hooked on the hard drugs. Now there's no going back, and the pushers are making the big money on a product that people don't need in the first place.
Half of the stuff we have in our homes are things we don't need, but someone convinced us that we do need them.
My furniture is so old, it is now officially classified as antique -- like me. *heh, heh*
Dude! (couldn't resist)
I don't have a cell phone and I have a clunky old TVs in my home. I do have a decent sized (27') monitor on my computer but I spend a LOT of time here.. work, blogging and other.
The term which drives me nuts aside from "dude" or as Marge said "you guys" is "yous." In some parts of Ontario (and probably other places, it would appear that "yous" is the plural form of "you." As in "Can I get yous something to drink" Ugh!
Well well well Mr. glutton. haha I think we are a nation of sheep--a new product comes out--mass advertising and we think--Dude, I gotta have this! LOL Or we are a nation of 'one upmanship' Mine is bigger than yours and if it isn't it soon will be. Whatever!
I try not to be part of the great mass of baaaa-ing sheep. But i like new things too-sometimes.
Great post! MB
I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing
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