Stop wasting money on unnecessary gadgets

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

According to statistics, in Russia, 23% of buyers change their mobile only because their model is outdated. Every month new items appear in the world of gadgets, companies constantly release flagships. And we spend money on them. Is it really necessary? How to recover from consumer fever, read this article.

At least once have your hands reached out to buy the latest smartphone solely because it has more bells and whistles than its predecessor? This is called "checkbox syndrome", when we are ready to sweep new gadgets off the shelves, because they have been upgraded. True, it's not a fact that they got better from this. Until you get at the mercy of the list of technical characteristics, compiled in a bright announcement for the sake of attracting an audience, stop and think: what is the value of the update for you?

What is checkbox syndrome?

Checkbox, checkbox, checkbox, checkmark - a graphical user interface element that allows the user to control a parameter with two states - ☑ on and ☐ off. When enabled, a mark is displayed inside the checkbox (check mark (✓) or less often a cross (×).

Wikipedia

Advertising for gadgets screams that a new feature will definitely radically change the user's life. Sascha Segan, an analyst for the mobile department of PC Mag, believes that smartphone manufacturers have not resisted checkbox syndrome, the habit of introducing a feature into a new product. Everyone does this because it’s a simple marketing trick, although truly innovation may not be useful to most people.

The worst stage of the syndrome is for us, the customers. We make purchasing decisions based on perceived benefits. We buy Android smartphones with powerful front cameras, but we never have video chats. We are buying a MacBook Pro with a Thunderbolt port, but we are not going to buy external devices that can be connected using this technology. We buy new cameras because of the ghostly improvements over the previous model. But it’s new, so it should be better?

Think twice before submitting to marketing hype. Follow these tips if you want to break through this fog and save money when deciding to buy a new gadget.

Ask yourself if your gadget is working well

When Apple released the iPad mini with Retina display, the GPU that allows you to play games with 3D graphics, gadgets heartily advised you to buy a tablet, even if you already own an iPad. Everyone rushed to make reservations, but sane people remained. As explained by one of those who did not line up for the novelty, he has an iPad, which he hardly uses. And although the fancy screen and graphics are significant steps forward, he picks up the tablet only to read a book using Instapaper.

Was the iPad upgrade important? Definitely. Is it important for reading books? No.

Consider whether your device suits the purpose for which you are using it. Ask yourself how the new feature will help you solve the problems you are solving now. These are the first steps to see real value through the marketing fog. Maybe the new feature is really cool. But if you do not need it now, then most likely it will not be needed even after you spend your money.

Make your checklist of important features

User reviews and feature lists are helpful, but shouldn't influence your buying decision. Not in the sense that they cannot help with the choice. But, when you look at an impressive list of updates, compare them to your own checklist. If the functions that you need are improved, then buy a new gadget.

For example, let's say you decide to buy a smartphone. Each review will tell you about such defining parameters as performance, screen size, internal memory and the ability to expand storage, camera quality, device size, weight, and so on.

Write down these characteristics and highlight those that are important to you. If you need a "dialer" with which you can still send a message on social networks, then a super-fast processor is useless. If you can't make a step without taking a picture, look at the camera. Don't rush to buy right away, take a break to compare several gadgets by these parameters. This will save you from buying an expensive gadget if there is a cheaper one with the same important characteristics.

Think about how you will use the improvements

We could buy a previous model or even renovate an old gadget. But we look at ads and convince ourselves that this function will be useful to us. Then someday. We have already said above that you need to look at the current device and the practice of using it. Here's another aspect worth paying attention to:

When a new product comes along, we are shown the ideal situation in which someone could make full use of it. Impressive, but if you delve into the details, things are not so rosy. Is the gadget really doing something right? Something really new?

As soon as you start evaluating a product according to this principle, beautiful pictures fall apart before our eyes. All these updates are no longer wonderful and are useless for you. You can, of course, imagine the rarest case in which you use a novelty. But does it make sense to overpay for this hypothetical situation?

Trent Hamm Thesimpledollar.com

Trent Hamm received an iPod Touch as a gift. He was ready to download and install a bunch of apps, but realized that he was only using the device to listen to music. Although the promo materials showed happy users filming videos and playing games on their iPod Touch. But for music, Trent already has a smartphone that can do the job just fine. So the gift was postponed, and a new acquaintance took place with the smartphone. In general, an upgrade is not an upgrade if the improved feature is not in the first place for you, and the novelty is not worth your money, especially if there are cheap or free alternatives.

Stop obsessing about stats and mods

Perhaps these tips will help you free yourself from checkbox syndrome and you will stop going crazy over lists of characteristics that are not important to you. Don't get me wrong: It's great to keep track of how the technique develops. Powerful new gadgets are exploding the market every month. But when it comes to your hard-earned money, you simply owe - to yourself and your wallet - to look without rose-colored glasses at all these reviews and so-called upgrades to determine if they are worthy of your attention, before reaching for the card.

How do you resist the urge to immediately buy a new product? Are you renovating old devices? Looking at the characteristics you want?