Around me, I see a few people who seem to have stayed put at a certain point in time in terms of their lifestyle – the clothes they wear, the homes they live in, the gadgets and vehicles they use, the content they consume, and so on. In many cases, I have attributed it to age. Maybe they just couldn’t perceive the incremental enjoyment that the new thing offered, or maybe priorities changed – either in terms of economics or interest. But there are also relatively younger folks who eschew a lot of things I might consider a need. In both cases, I wonder whether it is a conscious choice/ trade off, or something that just slipped in unobtrusively until it became a way of life, or something that circumstances forced.
(Ben Frankin, via)
We recently bought a second TV – a 55″ screen, (at < Rs.40k) something I had been postponing for months. Most of the viewing now happens on it. A few days ago, we happened to turn on the older, smaller TV. Our immediate reaction was an unflattering comparison to the new one. The mind pretty much converted what I had classified as a ‘want’ into a ‘need’. Even when I looked at it objectively, the selling points of a large screen experience were clear. Exactly what I had written about in Life Menus. So how does one even get out of this infinite wants loop?
Willpower, I have learned from experience, not only has limits but also causes bitterness in the long run. Limiting one’s exposure has its own challenges when one lives in a today’s world. But is that something some of the people (in the paragraph) above are trying for? Is it possible that if one skips a couple of steps of ‘upgradation’, everything beyond that becomes relevant. What is the cost? The older people get, maybe their position in a social contract makes the cost easily bearable. (e.g. me not using a smartphone vs my dad not using a smartphone. The cost I’d have to pay in terms of efficiency would harm me to a much larger extent)
But I think a balance is definitely achievable. One potential path is to apply the 3 levels of knowing framework – simplicity, complexity, informed simplicity – to consumption, and life’s choices in general. It is a deliberate practice, requires understanding and getting comfortable with the self, and constant mindfulness. From experience, it is really tough, but I’d say that once a rhythm is found, it isn’t impossible. As choices become more abundant, and consumptions move from finite needs to infinite wants (and can), maybe the way to navigate the world is informed renunciation.
