I’ve never been much of a gadgeteer. New technology doesn’t excite me in that “new toy” way; I’ve never been an early adopter of new phone models or anything like that. In fact, I had to be forced into owning my first cell phone by parents who were tired of not being able to find me while I was living mostly on the road.
This persists to this day, and as a result I’m usually several years (if not more) behind in awareness of the current level of technological convenience. So instead of constantly keeping up with the latest incremental improvements in… well, anything, instead every once in a while I just take a huge leap forward.
Usually something breaks or finally becomes completely obsolete and I’m forced to replace it, so I figure I might as well grab a new whatever – television, laptop, phone, whatever it is that finally crapped out on me. Alternatively, sometimes it’s just time for an upgrade due to me engaging in some project that’s beyond the capabilities of whatever bronze-age technology I’m currently using.
And WOW when that happens! It’s a rush getting all this future all at once. It’s like I’m watching the Moon Landing.
The point is, sometimes you don’t want your improvements dripped down to you in the tiniest and rapidest increments. It can be really worthwhile to save up a little wonder so it can rush over you all at once. Lets you really enjoy it. Plus, it gives it time to settle; a lot of “new improvements” turn out to be trash, and the early adopters are canaries in the coal mine. My method means I almost always end up with something viable.
Viable and awesome.
The Opportunity Machine 