Gadgets and Consumerism

by Deborah Taylor

iPods, mobile phones, iBooks, bluetooth, Mac Minis... According to the Government (and who would ever doubt them) the reason street crime is up is because we all carry round such fantastic toys that the muggers just can't but help beat our brains out. It's all our fault, for parading our wealth and taste so flamboyantly. There was never this much crime when there was nothing to steal. So the gadget must be to blame...

Why do I have so many gadgets? I'm not some sort of mad gadget freak, but I seem to be amassing more and more useless pieces of silicon and plastic that do things I never even realised needed doing. It's so unfair.

I have one of those wonderful little iPods, in black, naturally, which can play videos as well as store every single song I own. (All seven of them.) This means I can now watch episodes of 21 Jump Street or Family Guy on my way to work, which sure as Hell beats staring at the person sat (or rather stood in our over crowded public transport system) opposite me.

It's a wonderful idea, the sort of magic I would never have dreamed off in my feckless and fickle youth. The sort of thing that only appeared in movies and never, ever as stylishly. But what does it really mean to me? It means I become more antisocial and don't spend that time with a good book.

Then I have a mobile phone which can take pictures, play games, play music and put just about whatever noise I wish to inflict upon the general public as a ring tone. It can send texts in about five billion different formats or languages and has Bluetooth. It has a calendar, can surf the internet and is little bigger than a credit card. But what's the point? I hate talking on the phone and I no longer have any friends, because they got sick of me ignoring them in favour of a twenty one year old Johnny Depp on the tiny screen of my iPod. Even when they do ring, I never hear them.

I sit and watch countless numbers of movies and old tv shows that had no interest for me when they were first shown, on little shiny discs made of I don't know what. I was only just getting used to being able to listen to music on these things, now I can watch them too. And I have to watch them on a flat screen, LCD telly, with 5.1 surround sound. And I have to have every single channel Sky offer, even though there's nothing on. But, if there ever is, I can pause it during the live broadcast. Which is a relief.

I'm sat typing this on a Mac Mini, using a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse, which run on more batteries than I can afford. I seem to be in a cycle of endless charging and re charging batteries. (With a charger that has more settings than I can figure out...) I bought this Mac with the intention and express desire to use it solely for creating art work. I use it, almost solely, for receiving spam e-mails and surfing the net for hours on end. On a wireless internet connection. Oh and updating my iPod.

I'm also annoyed that I can write all these words like Bluetooth and wireless and surround sound and I know what they mean. Why are gadgets taking over my life, filling my spare time with updating and installing and pressing buttons, whilst simultaneously emptying my bank account? Whatever happened to the simple joy of reading? Does any of this really make me a better person? A happier person?

And these things are now a draw for every criminal around. According to the Government, and who would ever doubt them, the reason street crime is up is because we all carry round such fantastic toys that the muggers just can't but help beat our brains out. It's all our fault, for parading our wealth and taste so flamboyantly. There was never this much crime when there was nothing to steal. So the gadget must be to blame.

Though, in all honesty, my biggest fear is a power cut.

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