Lileks is unimpressed:
Honestly: would you rather they hadn’t invented clothes-washing machines? Radio? Would you rather that one member of a household spend their entire day over a washtub with nothing but the sound from the street through the screen window for company?
It’s comforting for some, apparently, to think that people in the past just stared slack-jawed at flickering images and rose like zombies when the Consumption Instructions were finished, and spent their life in agitated dissatisfaction until the useless, needless object was acquired and installed. I’d like to know if these people have microwave ovens.
I’m thinking they write their ignorant snark on computers that they don’t really need.
The microwave oven example is a great disproof of consumerism in general: most of us have a microwave oven, and most of us find the particular microwave oven we have to be incredibly stupid and annoying. The whole user interface sucks, the power usage is terrible, they don’t clean themselves, and the heating is never even. There are better models with slightly improved features, and they’re all incredibly cheap, but none of us could be bothered to go upgrade because the one we’ve got works good enough. This same argument applies to kettles, toasters and other small kitchen appliances.
If consumerism was really a thing, we’d be brainwashed by advertising to think our current appliances were no good and we should all rush out and upgrade.
There may be a price point beyond which most people aren’t likely to make impulse buys. Most people don’t run out and buy a new appliance every time a commercial airs. For expensive items, people may be influenced by the cummulative effect of advertising. Another possibility is that people who are already in the market for a new appliance may be swayed by advertising. Still, when was the last time you saw a commercial for a microwave? For less expensive items, people might not give it much thought and be more likely to make an impulse purchase.