I have started to become dissolusioned with buying new stuff, not just because trying to buy stuff is mostly avoiding scams, but because it doesnt make my life better.
I'm not talking about buying e-waste, but actual "life improving" tools and utiliies. The main problem is that you get used to it, and you just raise the bar on what is normal.
An example
When I was a child, playing Minecraft with my classmates and wasting time on whatever flash game I could find, my older sister got me a cheap headset. Some cheapo plastic headset they use in call-centers, for maybe 15€.
However, I was exctatic. I remember reading the "Optimized for Skype" tagline and thinking "Wow". I was very satified with it, and kept it until it eventually broke after a couple of years.
If I were to use them today, I would probably just avoid using my computer all together. Why? Because I have increased my standard. What was a huge upgrade before, is something that I would need to endure today.
Today, I have entry level studio headphones, and a seperate desktop microphone. I remember when I initially got them (the headphones that is), and was blown away by how much nicer everything sounded — compared to my previous (more expensive!) gaming headset.
I've been keeping my eyes on getting a set of more midrange studio headphones. My friend has a set of open back headphones, which sound excellent, and I've often joked that if he were to die for whatever reason, they'd probably dissapear for unknown reasons.
More seriously though, I've been thinking of buying my own pair, or perhaps even a model higher. It's not a huge amount of money (~200€ range), but I'm starting to get the feeling that it will just increase my standard even more. After just a couple of weeks I wont be any happier. It will be just the same as it is with my current set.
This applies to most aspects of my life. When I was a teenager, I would gladly drink the same percolated, slightly burned and microwaved coffee that my mother drank. Today I a wide array of coffee makers and knowledge to use them. The coffee I make is a lot better now than what I drank as a teenager. Does that make me happier? I was content with that coffee back then, it's just my standard that is higher today.
On consuming
I have always looked down on people buying e-waste, or just waste in general. I had a friend in my late teens, let's call him Billy, who had quite permissive parents, and generally lacked self restraint when it came to burning money.
I remember being over at Billy's place, and being overwhelmed with the amount of stuff he had. For example, Billy had an electric gutiar with an amplifier, a dj table, a huge union jack on the wall (neither of us are british), a elgato streamdeck, etc, etc.
I don't doubt that he made an earnest attempt to use these things, however it was quite evident that they very quickly became dust collectors. Once in a blue moon, he'd pickup his guitar, try to play some famous song, get frustrated at the lack of progress and put it back in his closset.
I started to look down on this behaviour. I quickly learned how easily things become dust collectors, and generally avoided buying stuff that I new would eventually end up like that.
This was my view on consumerism. Mindless consumption of what just ends up as waste. Unlike me and my fellow intelectuals who understood that buying quality is superiour to buying quantity
On consuming quality
I have this other friend, let's call him Jimmy. He is basically the mirror image of Billy. While Billy had a permissive and lenient upbrining, Jimmy had rough and tumoltious one.
Jimmy, today a young adult with a disposable income, only buys things that he actually uses. He is the friend with the open back studio headphones. However, it with him I've found the second fallacy.
Jimmy has bought an expensive OLED gaming monitor for 1200€ (it's down to 700€ now, ouch), and recently upgraded to a RTX5080 (from a RTX4070). Jimmy justifies this as he does spend a lot of his time gaming, of course he should invest in it. Unlike Billy, he actually uses all of his equipment.
He often encourages me to buy the same stuff, giving recommendations on what is good value at the moment. I can't disagree that his setup is more impressive and immersive than mine. Being able to walk around in the pitch dark, with it actually being pitch dark is amazing, especially at 200+fps.
The thing is just... I'm content with my current setup. Sure, getting more FPS in my weekly gaming sessions would be nice, but it wouldn't take long for that to become the standard again.
I did admittedly recently ugrade my setup, though in my defence my previous setup was getting old, and my new is 3,5 times faster. I will also probably get a new GPU soon, not because I think it will make me happier, but because my current one is starting to become actively detrimental.
Where does that leave us?
I don't really know. I'm just a 20-something year old, I don't have the answers to life and happiness. I guess simply beig aware of these two falacies are a good start.
- Don't buy something just because you want it, make sure that you actually will use it enough to warrant it.
- Don't upgrade something unless what you currently use is actively problematic. If you are content with what you have, then you will also eventually be just content with what you upgrade to.
I don't however want this to sound like a push towards asceticism. Some things will make your life better, and you should buy them. I know I keep harping on about studio headphones, but they really made music listening more enjoyable.
Among audiophiles, it seems to be called "critical listening", so my current theory is that you should buy things that:
- You will use
- Will improve something you are less than content with
- Or open a new avenue for doing something new (practice a hobby, consume media in some other way)
Go ahead and get yourself that new OLED TV if you want to enjoy movies in a more critical sense, though avoid it if you're just going to binge Friends untill you fall asleep.
Head to the local market and buy some meaningful handmade crafts. Don't just buy whatever mass produced art get's recommended in your feed.
Buy that fermenting vessel if you want to get started home brewing. A simple 50€ bucket + starter kit will do, upgrade first when that is not enough.
Fix your problems, but not pre-emptively. If you don't have any problems, try finding new ones instead.