» Dani: On New Technology
Dani ponders her spending habits and the anti-social nature of new technology
I am certain I am not the only person on the planet who suffers with a bizarre need to own something brand new and better than anyone else once in a while.
My most recent obsession came in the form of a mobile phone. There was no frivolous spending involved; I was due an upgrade, but sat there on the uncomfortable stool made for tall people in the phone shop, staring at the wall of sparkly new phones. I knew which one I wanted. I wanted it because I knew not many others would have it yet as everyone else is still riding the iPhone wave.
But there also appeared to be a little voice in my head that kept informing me my life would improve if I had that particular mobile phone.
Rationally, I understood that there is no way a flippant item of technology I won’t ever fully understand could improve my life as I know it but somehow I still allowed myself to be convinced by this little voice.
If anything, having a newer phone has only made my life more singular and distant from everyone else because now I don’t feel the need to actually meet up with my friends when I can chat to them constantly on Facebook or via email from wherever I am.
“A little voice in my head kept telling me my life would improve if I had that mobile”
Is all this new fangled technology just making us lonelier, giving us the illusion of always being connected while stripping us of our social skills?
So this phone that the little voice convinced me to beg the shop assistant for has done nothing but make me overly eager to check my emails.
That little voice doesn’t only appear when a new mobile phone is in sight. It also has rather persuasive arguments when shoes, handbags or food is concerned. The shoes and handbags are self explanatory – why argue with the little voice over things as wonderful as shoes? – but the food thing gets me every time.
If I am going anywhere – a supermarket, a restaurant or a café – I will always order enough food for three people. I never finish any meal because no one possibly could.
I believe Retail Therapy is the technical term for the action of buying something one doesn’t actually need in order to elevate one’s mood. I have always been very aware of my own spending pattern and how it is closely linked to my mood at that precise time. But where did the feeling originate from?
Perhaps those of us who find such pleasure in buying were incredibly poor in a previous life? My personal opinion on my own need to spend in spurts is because as a kid most of the things I owned were second hand. But that in itself is flawed because I prefer antique to new on almost anything. It must be down to that little voice that sits there and perks up whenever I think something is too expensive. The strange thing is it never appears when I am pondering a cheap item – I think it’s called a conscience!
Don’t shout
There are a number of things that puzzle me, one of them, rather randomly, is why – in some adverts – do the people in them have to shout? There is the one for Cillit Bang and one for double glazing. Why are the men in the advert shouting? It’s bad enough that adverts seem to pop onto our screens louder than whatever we were watching, but when the person has to shout in order to get their point across, it gives the impression they are trying too hard, as if their product isn’t good enough so they have to over compensate by screaming information at you!
