Why do we like stuff so much? I was at my brother-in-law’s apartment recently, and this thought I have had before popped back in my head. He is 21. He is in college. And, his apartment is devoid of stuff. Yes, his roommate has the unnecessary 60″ flat screen television, but they have no pots and pans. They barely have any dishes. Decoration is sparse. And, they wash Solo cups to drink out of. Does this anger them? No. They just don’t care. It makes think of my days in college when I had limited things and I was perfectly content. Now…stuff…all over the place. Actually, I don’t think my wife and I have done terribly, but it just seems that as you get older, you want more stuff. It is like the stuff will make you happy when you know it won’t. It is not like I’m advising a return to college, but why was it alright back then and not now? Since I have money, am I supposed to spend it on stuff? You have to maintain it. You have to store it. You get mad if it doesn’t work or breaks. And eventually, you are going to get rid of it. I used to be a big collector when I was a kid, but not any more. I’m glad I have my collections, but I try to keep that to a minimum nowadays. The collections I have now or almost all digital. All the purchases I make are usually made on things I expect to use. Plus, I have found that if I wait to buy something and decide if I really want it, I end up liking the purchase more. I don’t need any more stuff.
Amazon: DRM Free Music and The Kindle
Jeff Bezos looks like he will be very busy in the next couple months. First, they are opening a DRM free music store this fall. Why is this a good idea? This is something that I feel that the record companies, movie studios, and television studios don’t get…give consumers music, movie, and television downloads in a flexible format that lets them decide what they want to do with it and they will buy. Why do they think a lot of people illegally download this stuff? Yes, they can get it free, but it also allows them to use it as they see fit. I believe that is a big plus. When people buy CDs and DVDs, they can play them as long as they have some kind of player. Why must I buy your specific product or program (hello…iTunes) to play the music I download from you? Why can’t I play it anywhere? What’s the big deal? These things go obsolete all the time and then you are stuck with a bunch of music or movies that can no longer be played on the obsolete product or program. A waste. I hope Amazon is successful…although, the article state that not all of the record companies have signed on yet.
And, Amazon has their own electronic book reader called the Kindle coming out this fall. I would LOVE to get one of these. You don’t have to keep buying books and it is portable…great! I always feel, though, I will want to buy a book that is not available on the reader. It sort of defeats the purpose. What is I want to read a book that was published in 1992? Will it be offered? This is a big handicap…in my opinion. Once again, I hope they are successful, but we will see.
Becoming Adult
I love this quote from Becoming Adult…a book that one of my favorite author’s, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, worked on:
I think I post things like this a lot, but the more it is ignored…the more I believe it.