10 Days ’til 40: Planned Obsolescence = ROBBING CONSUMERS

About two years ago I bought a car adapter for my iPhone, enabling me to play my phone through my stereo.  This car adapter is the inspiration for today’s post.  Here is a photo:

Recently I have become more aware of planned obsolescence as I have been taking a Coursera course on entrepreneurship.  While I had understood planned obsolescence to some degree prior to enrolling in the course (I mean, don’t we all say, “They don’t make things like they used to.”)?  I really did not understand how purposeful and deliberate this is.  In a day and age when items should be lasting longer, they are being designed to break at record speeds in the name of profits and capitalism – and at the expense of our environment and consumer pocketbooks.

 

248 Days ’til 40: When Stupid Decisions Become Smart Ones

I chose this photo for this topic because it reminds me of Forrest Gump and how his accidental, naive, and even stupid decisions always managed to work out for his gain.  I LOVE that movie…. even though some parts are very sad.

 

285 Days ’til 40: Gift Giving Insanity

Gift-giving is an issue that I have personally wrestled with since childhood… Even at an early age I had the tendency to look at gift giving with a highly critical eye. Perhaps it was something about the way in which my family participated in this pressured ritual, or perhaps my opinions were something developed without link to my own familial traditions.

 

303 Days ’til 40: Inhibiting Instant Gratification

Thank you to Silverbells2012, whose comment on my post 305 Days ’til 40…. was part of what inspired me to write this blog entry.

We live in a world of instant gratification.  In fact, if you live in New York you can have warm cookies delivered to your home even late at night.  If you have a desire, it can be fulfilled immediately, and that is what you want…… or is it?

 

305 Days ’til 40: Back to the Basics

At the end of some days I pause and ask myself, “Can’t we just go back to the basics?”  Life has become so complex, so driven by demands to keep up with our high-tech society, so fast-paced.  What happened to the simple pleasures?

 

309 Days ’til 40: Curbing Consumer Cravings

I suppose this post, in all honestly, is a direct link to my previous post: 330 Days ’til 40:  Wants Versus NEEDS.  My family and I were recently in New York.  The stimulation in Times Square, particularly for my two elementary age daughters, was almost too much to handle.  I must admit the advertisers do an absolutely FANTASTIC job of assisting my children (and MANY adult and child Americans) at confusing wants and needs.  Indeed, it is their charge to try to convince Americans that we NEED to purchase a variety of products that we in no way actually NEED in order to survive, or even thrive in this world.