“Now, nine months later, I am not a different person. I am not more zen. I am not any nicer. I am not happier. I’ve saved a lot of money, and that is about it. The truth is I have not found new meaning in my slightly more ascetic life. But neither did I find it in that iPhone box. I don’t think anyone lined up on those sidewalks has either.”
Scott Gilmore was getting fed up with the hamster wheel of always buying new things, especially technology. This is the natural consumer response to planned obsolescence and the social pressure to have the newest device. We don’t intend to do it, but after a while find ourselves carried out by the tide. And before we know it we are a long way from shore. He decided to take a consumer “fast” and not buy anything he didn’t really need. It sounds like the experience was helpful and he saved some money. But what he found was interesting. He didn’t find meaning and fulfillment in all the stuff and technology. He also didn’t find it in the absence of all the technology and stuff. If we want to satisfy the deepest hungers of the soul, neither trinkets nor self discipline will do the trick. We need the Bread of life.
via The box is empty: On iPhones, religion and disconnection – Macleans.ca.
MattTroupe.net 