The introduction of Ford and General Motors' annual model change began in the early 1900s. These model changes persuades consumers to trade in their perfectly functioning cars for more up-to-date stylish models. Why did these modernized products fuel such a need for consumers to have the next nicer, better, and cooler designed goods? Slade explains that "in manufacturing terms, psychological obsolescence was superior to technological obsolescence, because it was considerably cheater to create and could be produced on demand" (Slade 36). Psychological obsolescence allows the consumer to focus more on the visual and design of personal items like cell phones, jewelry, laptops, ipods, clothing, and etc. For example, it seems like Apple has a new addition to their enormous collection of electronics every year. Apple has created a sleeker, thinner, and more featured design for ipods every year. From the very first generation of 10 GB ipod in 2001 to the expansion of four different types of ipods (nano, shuffle, classic, and iTouch), the iPod has evolved through almost 9 years of annual model changes.
I remember when iPods first went live and everyone went crazy. When everyone else played with their brand new toy, I stayed content with my Samsung MP3 player. The very first ipod had nothing against my MP3 player but after a few years, Apple began adding new features to ipods as well as changing the design of the products. Since Samsung wasn't making huge changes to their products, Apple won this competition and I finally gave in to the Apple craze. What made me change to Apple, you might ask? - this brings me to Slade's next point - "In a consumer culture, people size one another up continually to establish status hierarchies based on disposable income and taste" (Slade 50). Consumers no longer buy a product because it has been damaged or broken. People just buy so that they can look cool or to acquire better "taste." The consumer culture has skewed the meaning of style because having an outdated or old model is now looked upon as embarrassing and undesirable. Slade basically says that having the next best/new thing makes the person seem more well-off, more socially successful, and more desirable, which in this very materialistic culture definitely fits to be true.
In this giant craze for electronic toys, I feel that there are definite disadvantages. First, the over piling waste of perfectly nice goods can lead to mountains of garbage that would eventually bury us. Consumers are constantly buying new things then throwing them away and then buying more... so where do all these materials or "garbage" go? Moreover, technology has made things that were once unimportant to our daily life evolve into something that people are obsessed over. And when I mention this, I mean crackberrys, iphones, droid, android, etc and the multitude of "apps" that are featured in these phones. Since when do we need a program that allows everyone to know exactly where and when you check into a place (foursquare)? That is down right creepy. And who really needs to count how many times you say the word "Um" or "You know" or "Like"? There is an APP for that! Yes of course, I believe that some of the apps that are provided within Droid or iPhone are awesome but is it really necessary? I feel like if I ever got any of these devices, my life would be consumed by this tiny thing that would never leave my hip and probably end up crashing into a car just because I was using a speedometer app on my phone.. stupid.
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