If we were to look at a child of five years and ask is he/she old the answer would be "No" if we were buying a used car of five years old we wouldn't likely think it was old. Now if we think of Moses at his time of death that would be old!
I started thinking about age and five years as I am looking at equipment related to work, for the most part when I buy equipment I always want to make sure it has at least a five year useable life cycle, so that got me thinking, is five years old?
For a lot of equipment used in business five years is a lifetime, not because it is worn out or no longer needed but because of the pace at which we advance.
Think of the debit machine you use at the store, how old is it? I would guess not a year old, why? Because PIN cards are the new thing. I wonder how long before the next new thing comes along for debit cards and we see new machines.
As I think about society I believe we have become a consumption society, always wanting to improve to the point of it becoming an obsession. May be we need to just take a moment, stop and think do I really need this.
After all wasn't the use of the computer supposed to make us more efficient, give us more free time, has it done that or just ended up taking more of our time?
I guess with electronics the question shouldn't be, "Is it too old and should be replaced," but, "Does it no longer do what we want/need it to do?" For example, my 5+ year old iPod still works great aside from some issues on the screen. My only reason to replace it would be if it breaks down or my music library grows too large for it.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have no idea how old the PC I use at work for printing shipping labels is... all it does is print labels for parcels and doesn't need anything newer for it until Canada Post changes the system requirements for their software.
On the other hand, I've been dying to replace my 3-year-old iPhone 3G for almost a year (come Apple, hurry up with the iPhone 5 already!) because due to the iOS4 software update it's painfully slow at times, and the newer iPhones have cool features mine doesn't have.
You make some great points Mike, I use some "older" pieces of technology which do the job they are supposed to just fine and I have no desire or need to change them.
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