so they put out a new model and today i saw an ad in a guy’s blog who wants to get rid of his first generation iphone for about 200 hundred US dollars.
do we really want to push things forward?
can we afford to change iphones every time they put out a new update? when do we reach the golden mean when an average gadget will perform nice and steady. when do we settle down with one standard of wireless internet?
my girlfriend keeps pushing me for the best, the quality, the comfort, i keep refusing as much as i can. just because i know that this a rush with not limits. i am seeking balance. the balance.
about 5 years ago i was on top of the consumers craze in a way a 24 y.o. would be - gadgets, clothes, expensive alcohol, restaurants, clubs. enjoying the dividends of my recently received education after i moved to moscow and joined an oil company.
at that time one of my smartest and wisest friends was passing through moscow. he was on his way from a siberian town, my native town - where he works as a culture faculty professor - to a conference somewhere in europe. he is a self-confessed academia tourist. his budget was somewhat tighter than mine and he kept raising brows at my expenses and consumer confessions.
“i would like to mark this time to see how long it will take you to get off this consumption needle and get back to reality.” was what he said back then with an affable smile. i didn’t argue or feel any sort of remorse. i knew that that consumption euphoria will pass sooner or later.
now i am the moderation king. this is part because i changed two jobs since that time and finally found what i want to do for life. i am not single any more and i would rather spend more money on my girlfriend’s girl’s needs than buy another bottle of whiskey.
my first ipod photo is in permanent coma, but i would rather go to ifixit.com and re-animate it than buy a new one.
i haven’t found a balance yet. nor of course the balance.
here in russia we have just started catching up on consumption in the 1990s and now this global recession is leaving us perplexed. last friday all our staff received a note from our CEO urging us to take up a promise to adhere to one sustainable habit.
strangely enough most of the sample habits seemed to have been taken from the soviet union era. like using a net shopping bag to cut down the use of the plastic bags. or using a washing machine less often. in the soviet times our parents washed plastic bags and re-used them as much as they could just because they were forced to. or we used old t-shirts for floor mops.
we were the last in the race with the capitalist countries and now we could be the first one if we didn’t give these environmentally responsible habits up. 5 years ago i thought a supermarket was so up-to-date if it gave away plastic bags for free at the check out. i resented my parents habit of washing these bags to re-use them again and again.
now i have grown up. i don’t seek rebelling against my parents in every little thing. i have learned responsibility both in my personal life and my consumption.
i don’t see how can we take away the cornerstone of the capitalist by urging each other to consume more yet. but with the global death spiral we have seen the first big warning…
we have to yet learn the tao of shopping
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