Living in a world that worships swiftness and success no longer means living in a world of new things. Rather it means living in a world of old things; of things that very swiftly grow old. The actual sensation of novelty lasts for a much shorter time than it does in a world where there are fewer sensations. People are not taught and trained to prolong and enjoy their own sense of wonder, even at novelties. They are only trained to tire of things quickly; and then boast that their life goes by very quick. Moreover, this sort of newness is inevitably accompanied by narrowness. Things do not move so swiftly as that, unless they move in a groove.
-August 3, 1935, Illustrated London News
2 comments:
I suppose this is what one would mean by calling their computer ancient....Well that and the fact tha computers get out of date fast...
Yes, precisely! . Computers, and other things (like cell phones) quickly become "ancient" and "out of date" precisely because people are, as GKC put it, trained "to tire of things quickly." Such "training" is the nature of advertisement. ("What? You only have such-and-such? Why, that is so last month! You need to catch up with this months latest novelty, for the low, low price of....")
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