In the 70s and 80s, if you wanted to see a film, you had to catch it at the pictures.
The alternative was to wait until it came on the telebox, usually around four years later (after it stopped drawing in the numbers at the pictures).

If you wanted a home, you saved. You started small and learned to make do.

If you wanted new technology, a colour tv, a video, white goods, etc. You saved for them.

Your years would be spent doing routine things in daily life, looking forward to annual country wide celebrations, such as Christmas, Easter, Bonfire night, Birthdays and Halloween, etc.

In those days, if you over stretched your means there were consequences.
You’d have things repossessed.
You flat out wouldn’t have any further access to credit with Mr bank manager.

In today’s world, there are no consequences.

We live in a faultless society.
Can’t afford that new car you bought on lend/lease anymore? No problem, just send it back, then have a debt management plan write-off the debt.
In the meantime, visit another company, pay a little bit more and buy another one.

Mundane life / work routines are not accepted anymore.
You have to have the most exhilarating experiences every time, each time on a par or greater than the previous one.

You no longer just watch an episode of a new series, then make sure you tune in next week for the next episode.
You now have to pay for a streaming service (and the equipment needed) or buy the box set and “binge watch” one, two or three series, for hours on end. You can’t possibly wait.

You don’t need to save for white goods / new tech anymore.
Oh no that wouldn’t be right, why not have it now, at over extortionate prices or on over charging credit?
You can have it today!

So-an-so’s got one, why don’t I have one?

This attitude is all well and good, until such time as you start to realise that nothing is owned anymore.
Trade this in for the latest model, then pay over the odds (again) for that one.

But what happens when these experiences / appetites are no longer bringing you excitement?

You don’t just go out for a drink anymore, to unwind and have fun. Now you start to drink more, or worse still, move on to other things to keep the excitement and party feeling going.
You’re not happy with a new phone every couple of years, now you are “upgrading” every six months and paying through the nose for all the latest tech.
You are no longer working / earning for yourself, you are working to pay off the credit cards, the lend / lease new car (that you’ll never afford to own), the bank loan, etc.
Each month less and less of your wages are left over for you when all the bills start becoming due.

What’s the effect on the annual country wide celebrations for us?

More and more has to be spent, in the useless attempts to keep Christmas exciting.
In days gone by, games consoles would be pricey, but then as new tech was released, these same games consoles would drop in price.
Today?
The consoles released three years ago are still the exact same price.
They will stay at these prices until they no longer work on the tech needed, they will then disappear and be useless.

Take microsoft for example.
Windows XP was an operating system that made “drivers” for hardware connected to a PC.
(Drivers are a small piece of computer code, which identifies the hardware to the operating system, allowing it to operate with the PC running windows XP)
Out go the people and buy new printers, monitors, disk drives, drawing tablets, joysticks/gamepads, webcams and sound studio equipment. It even ran scanners for photographs/negatives and video cameras.

Then windows 7 operating system came along.
Did the operating system stop making drivers for hardware?
Well many things no longer work with a PC running windows 7.
Video cameras, printers, scanners, etc. when plugged in to a pc running windows 7, were not recognised anymore.
Why?

Profit.

Again people went out and bought new cameras, printers, scanners, etc. which were compatible with windows 7.
Windows 10 came out and low and behold, as if by magic, much of the hardware being used on windows 7 PCs, stopped being recognised by windows 10. Amazing!

Just imagine all that waste!

Yet a driver simply tells the machine/operating system it’s running on, how to use the piece of hardware.
If it’s a printer, then a letter is sent to the buffer, the operating system looks for a selected printer then prints the letter (the contents of the printer buffer)
The driver simply acts as a signpost for PC so it can see the printer attached.
No driver, the printer doesn’t work.

There is a point to all this…

Too much of a good thing results in the thing, no longer being good.

Many people I know, saved all year and then (and only then) got the items they wanted, if they were very lucky.
Now, they get the same things every week/month. It’s routine, not special.

Then – a great tv series starts – watch an episode, then wait until next week’s episode.
Now – binge watching and box sets abound. Try waiting until it’s shown again, you may even enjoy it more!
Same applies to films.

Then – latest phone was saved up for or only upgraded right at the end of a contract.
Now – you can upgrade after a few months of your current contract.
Try waiting until your contract ends. The phone will be cheaper or you may decide that a better model is available.
This will increase the enjoyment you get from having a new phone.

Accept the routine things in life, enjoy a bit of normality for a while, you may find you actually enjoy the good things more than you do now, when they come along…