By: Matthew Melchor
Almost two months ago, Apple announced three new phones: iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR. Shortly after the release of the new iPhones, Samsung announced: “A Galaxy Event” set for October 11. On October 3, Google announced a new Pixel phone coming and has recently burst onto the technology scene, purchasing YouTube, part of HTC, and Nest, a smart home company. The question is, why do we always need a new product and what race is everyone running? Are companies trying to be the fastest to the ultimate product? Do they just want to offer the best technology they can release? As much as we question the companies, we should question ourselves. Why do we continue to purchase the newest products? Why do we always need the newest, most advanced products these companies offer us?
Since the release of the first iPhone, Apple has released a new phone every year, occasionally releasing multiple models at the same time. It’s not just technology, though; the sports teams order new gear each year, athletes purchase new shoes, and every student is guilty of shopping for something you don’t really need. As Americans, we always need something before others. Rather than using products until they can no longer be used, we seem to throw away functioning units for newer ones. This may be the reality of the generation we’re apart of and the world we live in, which is very unfortunate. No once cherishes what the past brought us and the technology that has lasted for years (except the automotive restoration students, those guys like OLD stuff). The world has found a product we do not completely understand, and it is evolving at a rate no one could have thought possible: the computer.
We need new items because of how fast our world is changing. It’s not our fault or the scientists, engineers, and computer geniuses that are discovering these advances. Technology has allowed doctors to create body parts specific to patients, clothing companies to produce new fabrics and weaves at a quicker pace, and even enabled regular, every-day people to access every question and answer in the world in the palm of our hand. The generation or the world we live in today has not changed the fact that humans always want the newest thing, it has just offered it to us faster.
