Silly thought experiment. You’re a Stone Age hunter. You use a slingshot. Someone says they can make you one that shoots a little bit faster and weighs a bit less and has a sweet mammoth bone inlay that will impress everyone. You’ll have to pay a couple days of hunt. Would you do it? It’s a thing you carry all the time and it’s a big part of your “equipmental nexus” and thus your life and your real daily experience. Is it ridiculous to think of your phone as similarly crucial? Maybe.
Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
11–17 of 17 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#12[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#13This is a much deeper question, and answer than appears at the surface. Consumer tech is designed to be addictive, and it's marketing aimed at unconscious insecurities. Realizing that, and exerting self control can be tricky, especially for people with plenty of disposable income. Tips: 1. Acknowledge the addiction - first step to recovery 2. Research best practices to overcome the addiction. Just like any other, qui…
> Consumer tech is designed to be addictive
When scanning google news, I skip the entertainment and sports sections, because I have no interest (and they're really just advertising). I also skip the "tech" "news" section, because it's just another entertainment section.
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#14I think it’s simple. There are millions of people who go to work at companies whose job it is to figure out how to sell more of their stuff to you.
Not just marketing and sales. Coders working on analytics platforms used by marketing for example are part of the team. Reflect on what tasks got priority at your work today. And if you are not helping to increase consumption maybe you are helping your customers customers to do this instead.
Companies that can grow get all the rewards. Their shareholders get rich. People want to be rich because that’s the dream they are sold. It’s a cycle.
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#15If you have excess income, consider committing to give X% of your salary/income away to charity.
You might find researching effective charities that you are passionate about to be an interesting endeavor which might satisfy the "shopping" itch if that's part of what motivates you to buy things you don't need.
And if status symbols is your game, going to charity gala events and showing off your donations on social media can take the place of instagramming your new car or gadget.
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#16It's a choice, often an emotional one. One message our society sends is that power, expression and escape can be achieved through buying things.
I came to a point in my life pretty early where I realized that I don't need much. Also, I don't really give a shit about proxies for status, and that the people who do care about those proxies rarely are people that I want in my life in any significant fashion.
In a way, I've self-selected a social circle that doesn't pressure me into adopting principles and behaviors surrounding consumption that I don't agree with.
Re: Ask HN: Why are we consuming thing we don’t need?
#17Try reading 'Predictably Irrational' by Dan Ariely. He explains a lot.