Seeing how it works
Two of my geeky friends have bought next generation Kindles recently – Amazon’s new version of its ebook reader.
The first friend lives in Belgium but Amazon only ship them to the UK and US, so the friend had his shipped here, and we sent it on. Because of a bit of a delivery hoohah relating to a not-working doorbell, we spent a few days last week negotiating actually getting it into our sticky sticky hands then I had to take it to the post office and wish it bon voyage — more time thinking about it and dealing with it than I’d expected.
The second friend, who bought and broke a Nook (Barnes & Noble’s ebook reader) a few months ago, brought his when he came to stay on Friday night. We ooh-ed and aah-ed at the incredibly readable screen, and were surprised by how slim and light it was.
By coincidence, I’ve been going onto Amazon a lot over the last week – buying some books but also some kitchen items and chasing up a lost jam strainer – and there is a giant ad for the “all new” Kindle on the front page. And every time I see it, I think “ooh”.
I have no interest whatsoever in getting an ebook reader, less than none. The second friend is a contractor and travels around a lot, staying in different places for a few months at a time before moving on. He doesn’t really have a permanent base to store an extensive book collection. We do though, we’re not moving. And I like book-books – the feel of them, the smell of them, the fact they don’t crash, break easily or need upgrading. Some of my books are 50 years old, I’ll still be reading some of my other books in 50 years time.
But I keep seeing this silly gadget everywhere – in my real life and online – and it’s worming its way into my brain. It’s strange to be able to see it so obviously – to see how uninterest can be changed into a desire, into a want, into a need just by repetition and existence in my friendship sphere. I don’t want an ebook reader, I really really don’t, but I can’t stop my brain going “ooh” in recognition.
I feel very conscious of it happening, which makes me worried about the times when I can’t see it happening – or what would happen if I was subject to more advertising or more friends-with-shiny-things on a regular basis. Frightening.
(Photo by nkzs)
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IPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD
This is why I don’t watch broadcast TV, don’t read magazines or newspapers and run an ad blocker in my browser. I don’t fancy pitting my wits against the teams of expert hypnotists that work in advertising.
I’m more into tech that Louisa, so I wasn’t so surprised when I got distracted by a desire for one of these (a week or two before her).
I usually try to examine the desire carefully, to try to see why I have it (doesn’t always work of course). It’s interesting how once you desire something, you start to find all the reasons why it’d be useful to you – you might expect you’d have the reasons first and then start desiring after, but I’ve found this is rare.
It’s very easy to become attached to something very quickly and then start telling yourself little stories about how useful it will be. On the passing desires, I laugh at myself and drop it. Louisa can spot the stronger desires, as I start explaining to her how useful it will be for us both. She usually nods knowingly.
My defence mechanism is just to try not to buy anything on impulse. I try and always leave a few hours, a day, a week. If the desire is still strong (and has withstood Louisa’s mocking) then that can help distinguish it as a more genuinely useful thing (I’m careful not to say “need”).
John,
Do you think you and Louisa are taking too much notice of “other peoples'” thoughts? I note your Zen perspective (from L’s reply to my comment on the Jealousy post) and my path takes me through “oneness” territory, so “thoughts which you think you think” are a part of that “out there” space, which is actually inside, but influenced by what appears reflected in one’s aura, so to speak. Maybe the two of you are moving up to heart chakra territory unawares, and all this jealousy/needing isn’t really “yours” at all? It’s just mass consciousness. Back to the stillness inside, John, and pass by the garbage!