Everything’s Amazing & Nobody’s Happy
by be.
“We live in an amazing, amazing world and it’s wasted on the crappiest generation of just spoiled idiots that don’t care.”
- Louis CK
About a month ago I walked into Rogers (my cellphone provider), because I was tired of my old phone and wanted something new. I’ve been considering the iPhone switch for some time now, but was likely just going to buy a newer BlackBerry to keep things consistent. I asked the guy behind the counter when I’m up for a hardware upgrade and he says, “Well, 2 years from whenever you purchased your current phone”. I say, “Cool, can you check when that was because I’m probably closing in on 2 years right now, but I’m not totally sure”. So he checks for me…
It turns out that I’ve only had my phone for 10 months. 10 months!
Why are we so tech-bored? So New-New-New? My phone works just fine. I mean, nobody ever asks to physically see what phone I have or even asks what model I’ve got unless I so happen to be talking about getting a different phone. But because I just started to feel like I needed to have the newest/coolest phone, I overlooked the fact that my current one was perfectly fine and completely suitable for my needs.
Are we the most spoiled generation? I definitely think so. I call us, “Generation Me”. Not X. Not Y. Not Z. We are grossly self absorbed, self concerned and self owing and we excuse our consumption and gluttony by claiming the ‘upgrades’ (in all sorts) are necessary ones. Or maybe we ‘deserve’ to spoil ourselves. Or maybe we’re powerless at the hands of the brands that support our daily endeavors.
Personally, I don’t buy it.
Although, I, like the best of them, always want the newest/coolest thing, I had to stop and look at how crazy the poor shelf-life of incredible technologies like hi-powered laptops and cellphones/PDAs have become. 10 months? I’m sure BlackBerry intended on a phone lasting longer than that.
So I decided I would wait it out. Sit around until next November when I can get a bit of a deal on a bit of an upgraded phone. I’m sure I won’t feel quite as cool. Hell, I surely won’t look quite as cool. But hopefully it makes my feel substantially less spoiled, all the while still providing me with far more social convenience in my life than any of us possibly will ever deserve.
…
Something to consider:
• When was the last time you upgraded your cellphone?
• What motivated the change?
• Do you feel it was (actually) necessary?
• Are we “Generation Me”?
- Bryan 'be.' Espiritu
1. My answer is a little backwards simply because I worked for Telus for 2 years as of Mar 30th 2009. I started out with a Treo 700wx (I really just wanted an LG Chocolate but a co-worker convinced me I should go all out and make the most of my employee disc) when I first started the job, then I went to a Blackberry 8830, then I went to a curve, then I went to a Storm (hated it) and would have gone back to the 8830 although I gave it to my sister already so I traded in the Storm for another Curve (in that case I downgraded).
2. I did the phone upgrades because I had to (company policy) but also because it felt cool to have something new to play with. However I didn’t like upgrading to the storm because although it offered more features than my 8830 the touch screen was too much to handle. I’m content with my curve although I’m thinking of an iPhone as well because it might work better with documents and the internet. The touch screen keyboard is also an issue, again.
3. None of my upgrades were necessary. Before working with Telus I had a basic flip phone without a display screen on the front. I wasn’t texting and using the internet for whatever reason worked out fine by only having access at home.
4. Yes we are. It took 2 years for me to transition through 4 phones and all of them were in good working condition. In the last 2 years the Treo wx700 that I LOVED is pretty much unheard of and upgrades are coming out every couple of weeks. As much as I think I want a new phone I KNOW I don’t need one. At the end of the day, as long as it can dial I should be happy.
As the saying goes, “once you give kids everything they will appreciate nothing.”
I’m really going to try and hold out on this one.
Great video too! Quite funny, and true.