We Are Forever Indebted to Technology

I love tech gadgets. Don’t you love tech gadgets?

How can you hold an iPhone 4 and not say “it’s one of the best phones I’ve ever seen”? How can you stare at your 1080p HDTV playing Avatar on a Blu-ray disc and not be mesmerized at the amazing detail and clarity?

This is evidence of the innate behavior of the human race to strive towards what has never been done before – to continue inventing new things that makes a chore or task even easier. Tech companies are, and will forever be, in a perpetual competitive race to release the next gadget or software that will revolutionize our lives.

As a result, consumers like you and I are stuck in between their wars in this age of technology. Nowadays, technology is evolving at such a rapid pace that I find it threatening to our financial situations.

Technology’s Death Grip
Stopping to think about the lifestyles we now lead, we can see how much money we are spending just to keep up with the trends.

Your sizable DVD collection has become obsolete as you can now stream high definition movies straight to your television. Yes, you spent hundreds of dollars on the movies, while racking up some substantial debt, and now you have to pay for your monthly Netflix subscription. Don’t even think about rebuilding that collection with Blu-ray discs (start reading again from the top if you are asking “why?”).

Cold hard fact: Most new consumer technologies are actually old. The toys that just became recently available had to undergo a long process of production and development – the idea or concept originated months or even years ago.

Let’s use the recent 3D craze as an example. The movie Avatar ignited a new trend in the film industry to shoot their movies in 3D. Production companies already had the idea of 3D entertainment a couple years before the movies were released. Then, the top players in consumer electronics (e.g. Sony, Samsung, LG) finds that there is high consumer demand for 3D video and begin making 3DTVs. HDTVs just became a norm in my household and here comes a new trendsetting change.

It is an endless game of playing catch-up. Either we spend the money or we get left behind to miss out on a world of new experiences.

If you cut off my broadband Internet connection, I’d go berserk. If there wasn’t a single computer in the house, I’d go mad. My iPhone 3GS was water-damaged and died and I felt like I lost an arm. They’ve become drugs and the fuel to an addiction. I know that I’m one of the millions of consumers who will forever be indebted to technology.

To imagine how life would be without a computer, internet, and a smartphone is terrifying.

We Willfully Adapt
The easy solution is to stick with what we have and what we can afford. Adopting an Amish lifestyle is also an option…

Obviously, this is easier said than done. When enough people integrate these new gadgets into their lives, it becomes a standard. It dictates a progressive change that we feel would be disadvantageous if we did not follow along.

• In the workplace, following the trends keeps employees up to date. The competitive employment environment weeds out the select group that possess the skill sets to adapt new, upcoming technology because such knowledge would be beneficial to the growth of the business and the company.
• In social settings, peer pressure and the need to impress plays a major role in how likely a new technology will survive in the consumer market. In a few years time, the Apple brand went from a fluke to a fad to a cult and now it’s like a religion. There is no doubt that some of us buy things just to say “I have that”.
• From a curiosity standpoint, technology often sparks an interest. How cool is it that we have vacuum robots working while we are away? Sometimes, I feel like buying new electronics just to see them function in my own home.
• From a functionality perspective, if something that makes your life easier is worth paying for, then why not buy it. After all, advancements in technology are meant to make our lives easier.

Unfortunately, the rate of technological growth is always higher than the rate of growth of our bank accounts. The new gadgets we buy today will be old gadgets tomorrow. Our ability to refrain from constant upgrades will determine how much we spend on technology.

(Photo credit: ndrwfgg)

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