The Business of Being Obsolete Jan 31 '06    Write an essay on this topic. Tweet Popular Products in Books Rick Bragg - Somebody Told Me: The Newspaper Stories of Rick Bragg From $6 260 Drum Machine Patterns From $8 The Bottom Line Brief musings on how people who don't buy new stuff are pretty much "obsolete" in modern society. I realized, today, that I have become "obsolete." That is to say, I have become obsolete in the context of writing reviews on a site like this; obsolete in the context of being part of a consumer-driven society. I say this because I was looking around the epinions site, and realize that I have purchased absolutely nothing new in many years. Yeah, OK, so I'm not buying used meat or toothpaste, but pretty much anything semi-durable I own is getting towards being a decade old. My fax machine? It's from 1994. My computer-- from which I write this-- is about a 120mhz Pentium from I-am-not-sure-when. My printer is an authentic HP Laser-Jet 4 from circa 400 BC. My washer and dryer have rounded the decade mark. I believe the fridge is from the 70's. And so on, and so forth. What these things all have in common is that they are still working! And when any of them do break (or I simply choose to get a replacement), you're more likely to find my a second-hand store, or thrift store, than at the mall. Hence, I am "obsolete." For most intents and purposes, people who live by a "recycle and reuse" value system are regarded as obsolete. There are no MP3s on my computer and I don't own an I-Pod, or a PDA, or a cell phone. And this afternoon, as I surfed around this site-- on which I once wrote quite a few reviews-- it really struck home just how obsolete I have become. Some might argue that this makes me a sad individual who's nor getting all the benefits of modern society... but the bottom line is that I am pretty content, in my obsolescence. I by no means have anything against technology and innovation, I just don't have much need for stuff I don't need. And most people have lots of stuff they "don't need," even though they swear that they "couldn't possibly live without it." I can relate, because I sort of feel that way about my books and CDs. Although I only very rarely buy new books and CDs. Lest this is coming off sounding like an anti-consumerism rant, let me assure you it's not. It was actually prompted by a vague sadness that even though I like writing reviews about stuff, my opinions (much like this one) have become largely irrelevant.

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