I Hate Shopping...for Electronics


There are few things I hate more than shopping for electronics – chewing gum, and people failing to update their blogs are the only two that readily come to mind. It isn’t the process of shopping that annoys me, or the wave of technobable you need to understand if you want to make an informed purchase. I don’t hate the salespeople; even though most of them are completely misinformed (I worked as Best Buy briefly so I would know).  I don’t even hate the costs of the devices I want to buy. I hate knowing that something better is right around the corner, and then being disappointed when it arrives.



It’s inevitable that technology will become outdated; the computer I am using to post this uses an Intel Core 2 cpu, a brand line that was discontinued in 2011. That fate has never scared me away from purchasing a product and I gladly accept the short lifespan of any electronics I buy. What infuriates me is the constant news and rumors of upcoming models that far surpass the current ones. The whispering promises of better that never pan out. Because each rumor and report inevitably makes the next model sound better than it is. There are murmurings of increased speed, better battery life, or clearer sound, but when the product arrives you find out that none of those are true. The battery is better (you now have 5 hours of use instead of 4 ½), the speed has improved (apps load .01 seconds faster!), and the sound is clearer (10 Hz frequencies are now supported!), but none of the grand promises are actually delivered. Nothing is truly improved, everything is only ever tweaked. I wait for something better, only to find out that it isn’t coming. I keep deluding myself into believing that the next smartphone is going to be the next smartphone, with features that will be ubiquitous in 5 years. Instead the next smartphone is a smartphone with features only marginally better than the one I could have purchased 2 months earlier. The only difference is now the one I could have purchased two months earlier is too old to be considered a viable option. I can either spend my money on what just disappointed me or wait for the next one to do the same.

I really do hate shopping for electronics.

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