by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
What many people tend to perceive as needs are in fact nothing but wants and it is that that leads us into consumerism frenzy.
Would you buy the fancy car, house or whatever if there was no one around to look at it?
Is it something we really want or is it just another part of the image we present to the world?
I am sure that you would not and neither would anyone else. Most of the stuff that we buy thinking we need a new car, a new computer, a new this or that, is only something of one-upmanship; to have a newer this or that than our peers, our neighbors, etc. and thereby appearing superior to them.
I well understand to buy a “new” car, or computer, or what-have-you, if the old is broken and/no longer works but just because there is a new one around and even if you have the money to do so is futile.
So much that we, or at least the great majority of us, perceive as needs are, as said, not needs at all but pure wants and many of those are simply vanity as well.
Does anyone really need the latest i-Phone or general cell phone, the latest Blackberry device, simply because it is a new one that has a few more bells and whistles on that you haven't needed before and never missed? I sincerely doubt it.
But that is what marketing and advertising are trying to present to us. Namely that if you have not got the latest version then you are no in with the crowd. So what?
Does one really have to be in with the crowd as far as a cell phone is concerned or such? I don't think so. To me the cell phone is a telephonic communications devices for receiving and making voice calls (and the occasional SMS) and not more.
I do not need it to access the Web, my emails or watch the TV on it. Why should I?
I also do not need to be on the thing every minute of the day as some people seem to be – mostly for show they do. Before the cell phone we did not act about like that either so why now.
Mail waited till we got into the office (or home) and phone calls in the main too until we were in reach of a telephone, whether office, home, hotel, or booth.
Seriously, we do not need all those new devices. Make do with what you have got as long as it does the job properly and be content.
© 2009
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