> It goes beyond filling a need or desire and exists purely as evidence of the power of advertising to convince us to buy almost anything.<p>No, it exists as evidence of trying to be happy by craving material possessions. We believe that they'll make us happy, but all they really provide is temporary relief from our cravings and then more misery once the craving reasserts itself. It's a cycle that never leads to actual happiness.<p>Advertising does create demand, but it plays upon people's existing dissatisfaction with their lives. It only works because so many people are so unhappy. If more people were better connected with other people and able to live in the moment, advertising would be less effective.
Funnily enough I was in Berlin not so long ago, and I stayed with some students who don't even own smart phones and they live very happy, healthy lives.<p>They believe smart phones are a major threat to their privacy and wallet so they just don't bother with them at all. They just don't actually need them.<p>It's had me thinking for sometime now whether or not I actually needed a AUD $1000+ smart phone, when I first purchased one it was only society that told me I needed one, no one else.<p>Food for thought.
I find it crazy that so many people are willing to pay so much for iphones. There are <i>much</i> cheaper phones that offer pretty much the same features, certainly a little less polished but very usable. I know people for whom an iphone is a huge expense but they didn't consider the cheaper alternatives. Apple really did an awesome job marketing their phones.
Look past the airpod hate train in this post and I think you'll see a valid point. Post-Jobs Apple is shifting towards being a technology fashion company. It was always in their DNA, but if you look at the Apple Watch as well, the trend is clear. Since fashion is practically the platonic ideal of a marketing induced want, Apple fashion products will be useful examples of marketing's power to change our behavior.
The author talks about Bluetooth headphones as if it was an invention of the evil Apple...
I've been exclusively using Bluetooth headphones/earphones, with my phones, since 2009, when the NOKIA BH-905 came out. And its price was around $300.<p>The liberty of movement a Bluetooth pair gives you, either running, around the house, or in your commute, made me never go back... I'm already on my 7th different Bluetooth headphone/earphone.<p>You can critique the design that Apple chose for its Bluetooth hearbuds, but don't say Bluetooth headphones/earphones in general are unjustifiable consumerism and that wired is the way to go...
As an engineer and business owner one of my main concerns is how to bring value to my customers. But making anything new or innovative is incredible expensive.<p>For me expending 159 USD in those earbuds in VERY CHEAP considering that making one pair of those myself will cost me some tens of millions of dollars.<p>Try it yourself to put accelerometers and gyroscopes, microphones a battery, a digital to analog converter, infrared sensors in such a small space and then tell me this is expensive.<p>There are professional people who could spend wisely on something so lightweight like this and 160 dollars is no money. For example we have some robots controlled by voice and the current wireless headphones we use weight too much. Cables are dangerous in this environment.<p>Some people believe that the world and the Universe rules around them. If they have not use for wireless earpods, or they don't have money for it, then nobody in the world has use for it, it it so expensive and "Unjustifiable consumerism".<p>Apple has a history of bringing things to market that "nobody will use" by the critics and then when they sell like crazy it is marketing and people being stupid.<p>If you consider people stupid, you should consider that maybe you are the stupid one and marketting in the real sense actually means understanding the market so well you create the thing that people needs before they know.<p>After someone lent me a Gopro camera, I realize I needed one. That was marketing? Yeah, it was someone who had the same needs I have creating the product I needed before I knew.
I live very frugal and I'm happier like that. However, I'm mature enough to understand that the world needs some consumerism to keep an healthy job market. The easier it is to get a job, the easier it is to correct your mistakes/misfortune during life.
My Note 4 was part of a batch of phones with no earphone jack. I buy pretty nice Bluetooth headphones for $15. They would work fine on the new iPhones, right? $159 earphones seems like a sucker purchase.
If they hate consumerism so much, why are they using Apple products and product pictures as a click bait hook?<p>I buy these products because they are the tools I use to earn my living. The EarPods are just another accessory that may or may not make sense to you.
see also <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good</a><p>"""
In an economy, the consumption of Veblen goods is a function of the Veblen effect (goods desired for being over-priced) that is named after the American economist Thorstein Veblen, who first identified conspicuous consumption as a mode of status-seeking in The Theory of the Leisure Class (1899).
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Consumerism is great. You just have to try to be on the selling side, not the buying side. Even if it is as an employee of a company selling useless stuff to easily suggested consumers.<p>As it is, there is a limitless supply of consumers. Society does not need you to play too.
Consumerism is good, if it binds for limited ressources great amounts of consumer time.In this time, the consumer does not spend, the consumer does not buy, the consumer does not destroy. Minecraft is a great example for destructive consumerism. Selling a game for 10 $ which would take a large part of the audience for up to five years partially out of the game industry market.
Seriously? More shit on the iPhone headphone jack?<p>>> What brings this to mind is the introduction of the Apple iPhone 7. One of its highly touted 'features' is the elimination of a headphone jack. Taking advantage of this 'feature' requires the purchase of optional wireless earbuds (AirPods) that retail for an additional $159.00. Plus, the AirPods need their batteries charged independent of your smartphone on a dedicated charger (each charge lasts a maximum of five hours) .<p>1. The elimination of the headphone jack is not touted as a 'feature'. The bluetooth alternative using the W1 chip is and that's not actually related to the phone.<p>2. AirPod's are an optional accessory. Just like a case. Or any other pair of wireless headphones. Standard headphones still ship in the box as always and connect to your phone with a wire. Complaining that they are 'required' to use a feature of the phone (which again, they are not) is like complaining you need to buy a Car to use the 'CarPlay' feature or that you need to buy a lightbulb to use the 'HomeKit' feature.<p>3. Of course they need charging. Just like most other wireless headphones. In fact charging AirPods is more convenient than most because the carrying case doubles as a charger and stores 24hours power. So when they're in your pocket not being used they can be charging.<p>When is this circle jerk going to stop? If you're going to waste time keeping it going at least get the basic facts right.