by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
You could say that using last year's model is an attempt of saving the Planet through sheer laziness but that would not be all that bad either now.
First of all it puts a stress on resources and then it puts a stress on you having to learn how to figure out the latest model. I have found that – though, alas, I had to get a new laptop as the old one gave up its ghost – with a new laptop that came with Windows 8 installed and that is not a great operating system for a PC. It may be fine for a tablet but not the PC or even laptop. It was a total new experience and it required getting used to and it is not as intuitive as the old versions of Windows were.
Then comes the fact that as long as the old version still does what you need it to do and then some, as more often than not is the case, you will be wasting money simply buying the latest model.
And this is not just so with gadgets. The same goes for furniture, bicycles, cars and what-have-you.
There is a good old American adage that goes “if it ain't broke don't fix it” and that could also be paraphrased into “if it ain't broke and works well then don't replace it”.
Gadgets can be cool and fun but just be thoughtful about all the stuff you buy and the stuff you then toss out because you have bought the new stuff. Even many of the most cutting-edge, tech-savvy geeks in the world are choosing to hang on to their phones or their iPods that still work just fine.
All too often people fall victim to advertising believing that the new iPhone, iPod or new cell phone (smart phone) is so much better then the one they have and can do so much more that they rush out an buy those things even when their old ones are still working perfectly well and then, when they have gotten the new ones, have either problems with getting the hang of the things or find that they are not as good as the old one even or all of the above.
The other issue, as far as I am concerned, such as with cell phones, is that many of the so-called smart phones can be vulnerable to virus attacks, even just from a computer that has caught one somewhere or for other reasons, especially with Windows Operating System, as I have found with my Blackberry even.
Personally I do use the Blackberry not for data access, for instance, but only as a mobile phone for voice calls and text message and the camera built in. Everything else to me is of no interest and that includes the word processing facility and others. If I want to check my emails or surf the web I do that from a computer, period. Life is already difficult and busy enough that Ii do not think that being “always on” almost is interfering with proper interaction with people and Nature.
I do, personally, refuse to buy anything new that I do not have to. At times one does not have a choice as was the case the other day when a new printer was required as the old one gave up its ghost and, alas, repair was not an option as it would have, if possible at all, been more expensive than a new one.
Many people have become proud to be using older, vintage gadgets rather than splurging for more unnecessary stuff and, basically, I belong to that group. I am always proud and happy when I can rescue something and give it a new life with using it myself, from tools to bicycles abandoned and then rebuilt or, in other cases, reusing what others would regard as waste.
Why should I, so my line of thinking, pay out for something for something new when the old pieces are still working, or for something that I can make by reusing something that others regard as waste or have thrown away, or that I can make myself from scratch and scrap. So, why buy something new when you can make it from the old or why buy new when the old still works and works well?
© 2014
