I'm not exactly known for FOMO when it comes to technology. I am blessed to be a GenX woman who doesn't give a flying fuck about owning the latest and greatest, and who cares far more about basic functionality and ease of use than obsessively taking pictures of myself and curating them into some seriously narcissistic shit for social media where they ultimately end up being drooled over by creepy dudes and AI bots.
The only reason I just replaced my trusty Motorola smartphone last month? My version of Android on it was so antiquated - and NOT updateable (what a crock o' shit that is) - that several key apps were being relegated to unusable on my phone...like, my online banking app among others. Ordinarily I wouldn't give a damn about that but when you use mobile deposit and other functions, and your 2020 MacBook Air is already giving you the side-eye, you get a little paranoid that - in this day and age - you'll suddenly have no way to communicate with the outside world. So anyhow, when it came time to replace it, I bought a refurbished secondhand version in pristeen condition, all for less than HALF of what it retailed at brand new last year. My husband and I have been doing this for years with our phones, because honestly, there are an obscene number of perfectly well performing, immaculate-condition secondhand phones out there and with that, it makes buying new not only a ridiculous financial decision but WILDLY unnecessary...and environmentally wasteful AF to be perfectly blunt. More and more mobile providers and third-party vendors are selling refurbs, and for better and better deals. Along with the purchase, I donated my phone to SecureTheCall so it would be safely transitioned to use for those in high-risk situations including women's shelters, etc., ensuring an otherwise-functional phone remained in use.
On other tech gadgets, my husband transitioned to his refurb tablet life a long time ago with one from the Apple Store back when he was taking a couple community college classes, and has never looked back. My MacBook Air is also a refurb that I bought for work in the early days of the pandemic. Additionally, rather than replace it this year with a $1,200 newer model when the battery was dangerously close to its end-of-days (nuts after just 4 years, don't you think?), I did some investigation into possibilities and while I wasn't confident in my ability to follow the DIY tutorials for battery replacement, sent it in for a new battery for a fraction of the cost of a new laptop and only about $50 more than the cost of the battery. Yay!
And while the next time we do buy a TV it will be a refurb? So far this Samsung has been just fine for the past 10 years, y'all! It was the first year of their SmartTV and the best part of this? While it has the easy access and compatibility to streaming apps? It has way less of the rampant privacy issues of current models because it does not contain a camera or a mic, so when it comes to tracking your every move, recording your voice, or literally fucking watching you in your home (ew!), in a country where data privacy is not protected worth shit compared to the EU, I'm just fine to have an older model, y'all. We still had to dig deep into the privacy settings to prevent trackers and uncheck 'I consent' boxes, and we minimize streaming app variety and subscriptions as a general practice, but it's far better than current day. So honey, as long as this machine works? We're not switching.
And speaking of evolving technology, yes folks we still listen to our iPods. We do occasionally listen to new music on Apple Music as well, but for my morning walk and for my husband's walk to and from work, it's still all about our iPods.
Seventeen years and counting, a bit scratched up but still playing with no connection to anything but my ears, no data sharing but LOTS of tunes from both the present day AND the way way back that all keep a spring in our steps and music in our soul. We don't need $1500 phones or $500 headsets to jam.
Use whatcha got, let go of the FOMO 'need' to consume...and just keep dancing.
FOMO? I’m more of a HTMO bloke ( as in Happy To Miss Out), who doesn’t need more crap to deliver essentially what I’ve liked my entire life, whether it’s music or film. Bells and whistles and other expensive shit that gets dumped into landfill is far more fearful.