Gadget’s experience v/s the experience

So you are off to buy that new phone or that shiny tablet – it is festival time in India (and soon in other parts of the world) – so you must splurge or that is how the convention goes.

I put forth a suggestion – instead of that gadget, buy a new experience this time.

Let me explain.

Whenever you buy something new, the following typically happen:

1) You make a trade off. If you are like most mortals, each significant purchase requires some sort of trade off – you see, for most of us, there is a finite supply of money. Each time, when we purchase something, we either shelve or delay the plan to buy ‘that’ something else. Unless, off course, you like credit or do not believe in ideas such as savings/compounding/time value of money/assets and the likes.

2) Novelty withers away very quickly. The extent of time you keep that new phone in your hands playing with it, goes down drastically after a month of usage. This is true for almost everything we buy (except for things which are really ‘needs’ oriented, such as home appliances or your first laptop). In fact, the care we show for things which are new, in their first month (or first few months) is nowhere close to what we show a year later (rings a bell – is that true for humans too?)

Now if I ask you, what was the price of your last laptop/tablet/phone/car – you will perhaps take only a moment to come up with the figure – keep that number with you till we get to the end, please.

This time, don’t spend money on a new gadget – go/plan for a holiday instead. Or enroll for something that you wanted to do but time or money was a constraint. Or go somewhere with your family or friends, where you can spend some great time together.

You will cherish memories of the holiday for years to come, unlike that gadget, which will lose its charm very soon. The new course that you take may grow you as a professional or may just fulfill that long pending craving for doing something remotely called as a hobby.

These experiences stay with you – each one keeping its own impression for years to come and I believe, for the time that we have, the more the experiences, the better it is.

And not to mention, that new experience will perhaps cost you lesser than the new smart phone.

We do a much better job at recalling experiences than remembering the money spent on creating those experiences (especially the pleasant ones). We tend to cherish these experiences, long after, we have forgotten the cost – shows what you give more significance to.

Can you recall what did it cost when you went for a vacation the last time? Or, when you arranged a get together at home?

I can’t (at least not as quickly as the price of my phone).