Contentment Versus Improve Consumerism

Again in 2007, Mrs. 20SF and I moved into our second house. We sat down in our new front room with an enormous built-in leisure heart as the focus, and stared at our tiny little tv positioned proper smack dab in the midst of it. We glanced a take a look at one another and laughed. Our tv was a 19″ CRT TV, deeper than it was huge, that I had bought with cash earned from odd jobs after I was in center college, and it seemed downright foolish positioned in the midst of the cavernous opening slotted a 55″ TV. It was time for a brand new TV.

Regardless of the embarrassing optics, I didn’t run out and buy the primary good TV deal I may discover. I researched what the dominant platform for video definition was (and was probably going to be), and it gave the impression of 1080p HD was what the business was consolidating behind. We shopped round for a number of months earlier than lastly pulling the set off on a 48″ 1080p Vizio HD TV from our native Costco. On the time, this was a reasonably high-end unit that value us round $800, our largest expertise buy ever. It wasn’t luxurious, but it surely met all of our video viewing wants, it appeared to have the potential for an extended life, so we had been pleased with it.

Since that buy, many new excessive definition and different visible TV applied sciences have come (seemingly launching each vacation season), and a few have gone…

  • Blu-Ray
  • 2K
  • 4K
  • Plasma
  • UHD
  • 3D
  • Curved
  • Sensible
  • HDR
  • Dolby Imaginative and prescient

And, certain, from time to time the geek in me will get excited a couple of new expertise and the thought of scrapping previous for brand new itches at me a bit. But, 13 years later, we nonetheless sit in entrance of the identical trusty previous 1080p Vizio TV, completely content material with the audio and video high quality it nonetheless gives. And, lo and behold, 1080p HD continues to be the usual definition for brand new cable tv and broadcast programming. Consider it or not, many stations/channels truly nonetheless broadcast within the decrease definition 1080i or 720p. We’re not huge players, however I hear that 1080p continues to be the usual definition for gaming use as properly.

I’ve seen 4K definition on a number of TV’s, and it has freaked me out a bit. It exhibits element that I don’t wish to see at occasions. And the excessive definition usually results in blurring with quick motion, notably with sports activities broadcasts. Perhaps the expertise will enhance, however I’ve not felt like I’m lacking out.

One “situation” through the years – if you wish to name it that – the Vizio solely had 2 HDMI slots and we had greater than 2 HDMI units. So, as a substitute of finishing the unenviable chore of pulling the TV out to swap cords each time we wished to modify units, or the sinful train of scrapping your complete unit, I researched to seek out that an HDMI swap would resolve the problem, purchased one – and we now have 5 HDMI connection factors (greater than the usual 3-4 on TV items nowadays). it looks as if there are area of interest devices, as with the HDMI swap instance, that meet nearly any want and lengthen the helpful lifetime of nearly any tech machine nowadays.

Shifting ahead, till the TV unit dies (I’ve in all probability tempted destiny with this publish) or your complete tv and gaming business agrees on and begins transferring to a brand new definition customary (through which case, 1080p will nonetheless be the usual for a few years after), the Vizio isn’t going wherever.

The scaleable lesson that I hope you’re taking away from this story is that this: in case you are content material together with your stuff – preserve it. If an merchandise nonetheless meets your wants, preserve it. All the pieces else is simply noise and shopper itch, at finest. Studying the way to be content material with what you have got, significantly questioning each buy, and prioritizing wants over needs versus being sucked in to simply justified improve consumerism, is usually a delicate balancing act, but it surely does change into routine with observe.

We have now repeated an identical “contentment over consumerism” observe over and over in our lives, and it has saved us tens, if not a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars}, whereas serving to us keep away from way of life inflation (aka way of life creep) and holding our private financial savings price excessive and private inflation price near zero.

For instance, we didn’t swap to smartphones till principally everybody else did and whereas many others spend ~$1K on a brand new telephone they are going to improve each 12-18 months, we spent <$300 on a brand new iPhone SE that we’ll use for five years. We went from 2 vehicles to 1, and later negotiated a closely discounted new automotive with money and are nonetheless driving it 9 years later. My commuter bike, bought in 2003, has positively seen higher days, however studying fundamental bike upkeep and skipped upgrades has stored it alive. As an alternative of upgrading our home measurement, we downsized to a smaller house. I simply killed off a Home windows Vista desktop (WTF is correct), bought in 2007, after the onerous drive died and changed it with… no desktop in any respect. And I even nonetheless put on a number of apparently very properly made t-shirts that I bought in highschool! These are only a few of many examples.*

Each new era product launch, whether or not it’s TV’s, autos, telephones, sneakers, clothes – or any shopper product – we’re bombarded with promoting, phrase of mouth suggestions, and our personal nagging psyches, and it may be a battle to not give in to the temptation and strain to buy. The fixed nag of consumerism can weigh closely on our shoulders and eat up numerous our money and time, so it’s finest to not even think about upgrades till you completely have to. And once we are sincere with ourselves about whether or not what we at the moment have is sufficient, the reply is “sure” most of the time.

So, if you happen to’re content material with what you’ve received, skip a product era, or 2, or 5. Your future self will thanks. And you actually, actually received’t miss a factor.

What are some examples of if you selected “ok” contentment over an alluring shopper improve?

* Isn’t it fascinating how a lot we take issues without any consideration and the way rapidly we will run out of gratitude for what we’ve got? Even the worst shopper merchandise in the present day can be thought of mind-blowing if you happen to went again in a time machine and confirmed them to your 5-year previous self. And the generations earlier than us (and even the obscenely wealthy thereof) had near zero of the spoils that we’ve got in the present day, but they someway survived lengthy sufficient to pro-create and possibly even reside glad lives.