Moment of clarity / Mid-life crisis here we come

[azekeil]

So I was sitting at my desk doing the rather scary thing of writing a new strategy for our infrastructure, which will go against the accumulated wisdom of the company. I sort of took a 'back to basics' approach to this strategy rewrite, which got me thinking.

What do humans need to survive? Air, food, water, shelter (and the ability to sleep). Those are the immediate concerns. Then the ability to propagate the species, evolution, etc. But I digress.

So why in all the hells are our lives today so damned complicated? I'm sitting here at the desk of a company that was formed purely to deal with a problem caused by abuse of a communications system that has been stretched way beyond its original purpose, which is only in use today because it is ubiquitous.

Look around you! Everything you touch has had man-years of effort gone into designing, producing, marketing, selling and distributing. These things add 'convenience' and 'quality of life' to our existence.. but at what price? We now have a million and one things to worry about - jobs, mortgages, pensions, phone contracts, internets, computers, email, cars. What do they all achieve? Why are they there? What do we actually need?

Sometimes I think that progress has happened because we evolved to become more intelligent, and we needed stuff to do to stop us from being bored. That's the only rational explanation I can find for all of this.. fluff. Entire global industries spring into life to solve problems that have never existed until now. It's just mind boggling.

No wonder people find modern life stressful. I'm sure it has to do with all these things designed to 'improve' our lives - and most of them are only necessary because everyone else uses them. If I had my way I'd be out in a log cabin somewhere, growing and hunting my own food, with a community of people to share the experience with.

Comments

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

In my example (let's say it's a handset that you own that has a pay as you go SIM card in it) the features cost you nothing unless you use them. :)

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

Yeah, so I wouldn't stress about that anyway, I just wouldn't be tempted to succumb to the consumerist tendency to spend money on the service when I didn't actually *need* it.

[serena-lesley.livejournal.com]

You see, most people like to have the freedom to choose. For instance, I bought mine rather than a different model because as well as being easy to use, it was capable of sending / receiving photos. I wanted to have the option. I rarely (maybe once or twice a month) use this function, but it's there if I want it. It's the same with many other things. It's nice to have the option, even if most of the time you choose not to use it.

[azekeil.livejournal.com]

I don't disagree with you, but then you've had to put considerable thought into which phone you chose and why. I've just plumped for whatever model phone I can get for free that will do voice calls. Occasionally I text as well, if I have to. So often I hear of people having trouble with their phone (It doesn't do x, y or z in the way I want it to), but I avoid all that.