Welcome to my new and improved blog. I know you are now wondering, what is new and what is improved about it, ..it looks the same as it does every day. If the truth be told, nothing is really new or improved, but I am counting this blog entry as an upgrade, so that makes it new....Improved? ....Maybe, maybe not.
We are bombarded with those words in advertising a lot. New, improved, upgraded, updated, they make a product or item sound more appealing. A promise of something better, something better than it was before. I don't really think I can claim this blog entry as really anything better than what has been posted before. But just saying it's new and improved made you stop and look. I often wonder how can something be brand new......and improved? To claim it has been improved would be to admit to it being not so new.
I think it's all a gimmick.
Have you ever picked up an item and saw that it was claiming to be better than ever? Upon closer inspection you notice the item may be in the same colored packaging, but now because it was improved you have less of it? I fail to see how that improves the value for my dollar. Most days I don't want anything new and improved... I want it to stay the same... the same as it has always been. I like reliability. When I think new and improved I think of Coke Cola when it came out with it's new version of the "New Coke". One of the biggest mistakes any company could have made.... changing a product when there was nothing wrong with the original.
Everyone likes new things. We want new things. We love the freshness of new things, opening that package for the first time, using that item, admiring it for the very first time. I think a new car is on a lot of people's wish list. New and shiny with that new car smell. Gadgets and buttons and new upholstery unstained yet with ketchup and hiding cold fries. We love new cars. My mom got a new vehicle a couple of years ago. She was dazzled by it's bright shininess. Today she is still dazzled by it. Not by how bright and shiny it is, but by all the features she has still to figure out on the vehicle. So many features, such a thick owner's manual, she hasn't gotten thru either of them yet. She has figured out that if the gas tank cap isn't screwed on tight enough the engine light comes on. If any car functioning fluids are low the engine will not turn over. Child safety features keep the back door locked at all times. Trapped in the back seat of your own vehicle evidently is an improvement.
I have a tracphone that my mom gave me to figure out for her. Not having a cell phone she thought having one of those prepaid phones would be so handy while on the road. It is a week old, and she has yet to make a phone call. I have looked up all of the info on the web and I keep getting the response from their website,.... her brand new phone needs an update. Upon clicking on the info, I am then given a message it can't be processed at this time. Evidently updates are not always available, even though they are a requirement for use of the brand new product. I hate to tell my mom when I hand the phone back I have used 10 of her precious minutes being unable to call or receive calls but I can get a message on her phone, that with the use of her credit card, she can buy additional minutes. I am tempted to tell her it is not really a phone at all but a miniature slot machine, once she is able to make a call she will have hit the jackpot, till then she will just have to keep feeding it her prepaid minutes.
I need a new computer. Well, I really should rephrase that sentence in that I WANT a new computer. My computer still works. It still boots up for me. It still performs the same task as it always has,....but, it's old. It's my original computer of 10+ years. One new modem from an electric storm and that is all that has been required of it's maintenance. It's slow though. Slow and small and cluttered and not at all trendy. I lust after a new computer. Something quick and shiny with tons of memory and a bigger screen.... and one that makes coffee and toast first thing in the morning. A big part of me, tells me not to mess with anything that works. Especially anything that is technical. I just know a big light will flash on the screen that I am not updated or upgraded, or improved enough for such a spiffy new computer.
So much technology, it grows by leaps and bounds each day. It is mind boggling what all we have and are privy too...so much stuff to make our lives easier, make our lives better and improved. But a lot of days when I pick up a paper, listen to the tv, read a story on-line, I wonder where is the improvement? How can we have so much as a society and as people are not improved? We still have wars, we still have racism - from all sides, we still have hatred,... and selfishness,... and apathy.
No matter how pretty the packaging and the claims of being improved and updated and upgraded and new and fantastic, they are just that...claims. It's what is on the inside that counts. If it works, don't fix it. Shiny and new isn't all it's cracked up to be. For now I will stick with what works and my computer. Once it quits on me, well then I will have to think about getting an improved model, and while I am at it I will think of what needs improving in me.
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