This is not just an age of information overload, but it is slowly becoming an age of product overload. There is just so much to choose from. How many anti-bacterial soap adverts do you see on your TV in one night? There are just so many soaps with a ‘secret ingredient’. Every day, there is an update of a certain gadget. As these ‘new improved’ products flood the market, in us is a desire that pesters to be sated. We want the new, not because it will help us, but because it is ‘the new’. It is a disease, and the good folks at Lifehacker have found a name for it. They call it the CheckMate Syndrome.
Gadgets provide a very good example of how Checkmate Syndrome ails almost every one of us. We like checking what features our friends have on their gadgets. Reviews all over are telling you how these upgrades and new gadgets will transform your life. Adverts on the other hand have an allure that is hard to resist. We want it, it is new and it must be better. According to Alan Henry, these decisions are based on fantasy rules. You go ahead and get a powerful front-side camera for your Android, not because you want to use it for video or chat, but because…There is really no because. You just need to have it. Everyone has it!
One is advised to rationalize any upgrade they plan to spend money on. Do not just rush into the marketing hype. Think about how you will use that upgrade. If you do not plan to use it, do not buy it. Do not push through the fog either, trying to convince yourself how much you need it. If there is a person you cannot fool, that would be you. A certain writer has just the perfect medicine for the Checkbox Syndrome patients.
Once you start evaluating products, a lot of things start falling apart. Their new features really aren’t all that amazing or useful to you. Sure, you might be able to invent a rare situation where you would use it, but is it worth paying a lot more just for that special case?
When you’re thinking of buying a new product, compare it to what’s already out there at a lower price and consider what is actually different between the two. If the extra features are not something you’d actually use with any regularity, go with the less expensive item.
So resist the allure of the new in the market. Buy it because you need it, not because you can afford it. No one said that you must evolve with technology. If you are comfortable in your own element, then be it. Upgrade when you need it.