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Opinion
It Pays to Be Behind the Times Is the compulsion to buy the best, fastest, and newest items a symptom of consumerism gone wild or is there something more subtle at play? Written by William Urbanski
www.gwangjunewsgic.com
July 2020
OPINION
O
ne of the most interesting discoveries that has come from the field of anthropology is that even the earliest humans attached special importance to rare or otherwise special objects that had little or no practical value. Since these objects – be they seashells, feathers, or polished stones – didn’t really serve much of a purpose in survival, it has been deduced that they held ceremonial significance or acted as status symbols. So, it would seem that our need to show off our shiny new phones, jewelry or cars is actually somehow coded into our DNA. Now, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a new watch or being happy about purchasing a vehicle, but when the need to show off our purchases becomes a priority, and an obsession that plunges the consumer into debt or an ongoing cycle of unhappiness, that’s the point where Cro-Magnon would be throwing his obsidian spear to the ground in disgust. Trying to always have the best, brightest, and newest gadget, clothing item, or car is a vicious cycle that seems to have its origins in demanding the newest, brand name products: a trait that seems to be held up as a virtue by some. There are a number of traps associated with conspicuous consumption: One is that you are paying for the privilege of being one of the first; the second is what prominent financial blogger Mr. Money Moustache calls “minor details exaggeration syndrome.” What this all stems from is the practice of attaching an inflated value to the newest versions of products and even feeling that iterations from previous years are inferior and that to use them is demeaning. People are generally aware that overpaying for a purchase is not a good thing, so could there be more than meets the eye when people are “flexing” their new consumer products? The impulse to participate in consumer culture is strong, and so is the compulsion to buy the newest gizmos. Whatever the motivation for wanting the latest and fanciest things, there are some compelling instances where it actually pays to be behind the times.
Car Crazy
You’ve probably heard that buying a brand new car is financially one of the stupidest things you can do. This is mainly because of the rapid depreciation in value that
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occurs within the first three to four years of a car’s usage. Another rule of thumb is that when driving a brand new car off the lot, it loses ten percent of its value right away. Ten percent! So what explains the fact that people not only in Korea but around the world buy new cars? Financial illiteracy certainly plays a part, but there is the firm and obstinate belief that brand new cars are so much better than used ones that the ridiculously inflated price is justified. Sure, sure, the newest model may have some features that ostensibly improve the overall driving experience (extra camera, heated steering wheel, internet connectivity, etc.), but keep something in mind: Cars haven’t really changed that much over the past 50 or so years. They still have four wheels, a few seats, and do pretty much the same thing as they did in the 1970s (or before). The difference between a 2020 model and a 2016 model of a car may be noticeable, but the sum of the factors that really set them apart is actually negligible. As well, even if you get a car with all the fancy little features in the exact shade of gray you wanted, your car is still one of millions on the road, so the minor differences that you spent time and effort worrying about to distinguish your car from all the others actually amount to jack diddly squat. Another often overlooked aspect of new tech in cars is how they actually create worse drivers. Two examples stick out: GPS systems and so-called “back up cameras.” I am of the unwavering belief that a major reason for the terrible drivers on the road nowadays (in Korea and back home in Canada) stems from virtually all vehicles having and pretty much all drivers completely relying on GPS. A while ago, when driving to another city with a Korean friend of mind, he was very surprised that I didn’t have a GPS and wasn’t constantly checking where I was going. Roads and highways, people seem to forget, contain an inherent logic in their numbering schemes that actually makes it easy to know where you’re going. A classic example is the interstate system in the USA in which odd-numbered highways always run north to south and even numbers run east and west. Believe it or not, people actually used to be able to get around without having a glowing rectangle on their dashboard beeping
6/25/2020 12:44:10 PM
