So I got this issue where I completely fetishize new laptops, phones, tech gear. I always got to have the latest phone, laptop, best monitor, everything as soon as they come out. The problem is that most of my stuff is already 'good enough' and recent.<p>I don't know the official term for it, but I call it technolust. Anyone have any tips on combatting this behavior?
For me it was when I started buying hardware stuff second-hand. It made me realise that very few people actually need as much processing power as they say they do. I used to subscribe to PC-building communities where people would drop a couple of hundred pounds extra on an i7 for a gaming rig because they also did 'video editing'. If you actually produce videos and need to do transcoding / rendering on a deadline then fine - but I suspect the majority are simply editing their gaming captures together to upload to YouTube. Of course it's great to have hobbies and I'm not going to tell anyone how to spend their money, but personally I think that it's an unnecessary cost if you just want it to transcode game captures when you could leave a much cheaper i5 running overnight instead (or buy a Xeon).<p>My workstation (FPGA development, programming, and a little gaming every now and then) was an ex-business unit. My 2013 MacBook Air belonged to an ex-student wanting to upgrade (can't think why - I don't even remember the specs myself because it runs as smooth as butter and I've never had reason to check otherwise!). Same with my phone - I bought a friend's old iPhone 3GS years ago. This year I've finally had to retire it because it was no longer reliable and I need it to get into my house (another story). My audio setup consists of a pair of vintage bookshelf speakers a friend picked up from a car-boot sale for a tenner, and my amp was gifted to me years ago by an old teacher (one new transistor and it was good to go)!<p>The bottom line is that buying second-hand made me realise that the extra bit of performance isn't worth the significantly higher asking price. I no longer care about small aesthetic imperfections like scuffs and scratches provided it doesn't break functionality (like a scratch on a lens for example).<p>Figure out what you really need your equipment to do for you then do your research and pick up something used. Be satisfied when it gets you 90% of the way, and you'll start to wonder why you ever lusted after shiny new things! At least that worked for me.
I think consumerism tends to creep in when your life is emotionally empty (i.e. no meaningful human connections, no true passions), the same way alcoholism and other addictions do.