The Cult of the New (Jameson)
“Frantic economic urgency of producing fresh waves of ever more novel-seeming goods”
When we were discussing this in class, I was thinking about the connection between this concept and the idea that it’s nearly impossible or just impossible to move outside culture. I think it might be impossible, at least right now in our capitalist-centered society, to move outside of the idea of the cult of the new. Like culture, it’s something that we should be very conscious of its presence and effect on us, but I wonder if it’s possible to not be looking to the future for the next advancement in products when that’s how the world around us is wired.
An example of this comes in the form of Apple and the way they release new iphones. Rarely do a new generation of phones come along that include a feature that would be impossible to live without, it’s usually just processing upgrades and more bells and whistles than the last version. But Apple markets the new line of phones as if you’d be missing out on so much by not upgrading. If the technology is available, you should have it, you deserve to have, and settling for less means not getting the most out of a technology that can do more. Our “old” phones function just find, considerably better than the flip phones of the past, but when compared next to a newer generation, the vast difference between a smart phone and a flip phone seems not too far off from one generation of iphone to the next.
Although I try and move outside of it, I definitely fall victim to this marketing scheme and mindset as well. My weakness is when the “upgrade” has to do with something I like or get a lot of use out of, like my GoPro. I take my camera everywhere, and use it for a vast amount of projects, so when I see that a new line has been announced, it makes sense to me that I should upgrade, because of the amount of use I get out of the product. What I have to remind myself is just that the product could be better, doesn’t mean that it has to be, at least not right away. It’s clearly serving its purpose for me and in no need of replacing, and only seems to be insufficient when its compared to a newer model. The cult of the new thrives on comparisons because it means that they’re be a losing version and a winning version, which is also always the most recently produced one.
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