Is there anything wrong with splurging on tech?

It's worth thinking very carefully about your consumption habits re: how they produce waste. The real costs of our devices are often hidden in pretty horrifying externalities. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_waste

That said, even always upgrading to The Latest Thing can be done responsibly as long as you're making sure those old devices go to people who can get use out of them. Questionably useful gizmos are less great – I wanted a smart watch, got one, and regret it.

Hedonic treadmill is real, so keeping emotional distance from these things is useful.

There is a question that you can apply to any scenario that will almost always give you "the right answer":

What are you optimizing for?

If you are optimizing for the most experience with emerging tech, then no it's not wrong, you need to get access to it.

If you are optimizing for reducing e-waste, then you should be probably getting older tech and reusing it or selling tech that you've repaired.

If you are optimizing for minimal possessions, then yes, it could be bad if that means more objects.

If you are trading in and trading up and optimizing for "tech that holds value" then no, it's not wrong.

Often when people pass value judgements it's because they are optimizing for a different thing, and low and behold, that's where disagreements stem from.

You don't seem to be actually introspecting but rather asking a different group for approval now that your peers made you feel bad. What do you think?

Do you have the money (not going into debt, credit card or otherwise)? Are you genuinely enjoying the purchase? Are you sacrificing anything you want/need more (house downpayment, tuition money, grocery budget, student loan payments, 401k match, etc) to purchase said tech? Is the purchase hurting you in any way?

If yes to the first two and no to the latter two, tell your peers to suck it. If any other combination maybe you have some introspection to do, figure out what value (if any) you're actually getting out of the purchase.

Will you enjoy the gadget just as much a year from now, or is it like buying a luxury car where after a while it just becomes "a car"? The hedonic treadmill is real when it comes to things

Asking that question here is like asking a bunch of car enthusiasts whether there's anything wrong with splurging on cars ;)

So obviously I'd say there's nothing wrong with splurging at all. The question is what you do with it once you replace it when you splurge again; I'm certainly guilty of having an ever-growing collection of "spare parts", but even that's better than the landfill.

Your money, wipe your butt with it if you wish (although treasury dept wouldn't like that).

I only worry about getting privacy invading gadgets like home assistants and things that measure biological activity amd phone home.

I saw other posts after commenting and everyone is worried about waste. This idea of making consumers accountable is ridiculous. You are not responsible for ewaste as much as you are not responsible for global warming. It is the responsibility of manufacturers to maintain a sustainable carbon foot print and properly plan for disposal of ewaste, it is the responsibility of government to regulate all of this as well and impose taxes and cost as needed. The price of what you buy should reflect all of this. If everyone can buy 100 iphones that means the cost of managing ewaste and producing it responsibly was priced in. If it was not them the corner-cutters are responsible not the consumer.

There is absolutley no way you can get enough people to care about ewaste or carbon footprint to make an iota of a difference anytime this century.

Curious to hear what you're buying!

My rule-of-thumb is that if it helps me be more productive or creative, it's a worthy investment. A Remarkable tablet has been my best tech purchase so far.

This is very vague, there's nowhere near enough context for anyone to offer you any solid advice.

> What does the community think?

What do you think?

There's the environmental aspect of it, which isn't great (the manufacturing of each computer emits a lot of CO2, and uses some rare metals that are increasingly hard to find, amongst other issues, I'm sure), especially if you replace tech super regularly, but if it's also part of your trade, then it kind of makes sense to have good tools. Those people probably don't berate dentists for getting new tools in their office, or carpenters for getting a new table saw.

That being said, there's a point where it tends to become diminishing returns. You don't need a super computer to code CRUD sites, especially nowadays (I say as I'm browsing the internet from my sorta fancy gaming desktop, but I do play games on it as well).

All that matters is you enjoy using your favorite gadgets. I personally don't have an issue with using or splurging on tech, but when someone replace their gadgets every 6 months for the sake of having the marketed newest and best, I would definitely think about if it's necessary. How much newer or better is a product getting in a given cycle, and are they a power user that will see a meaningful benefit from upgrading. Tech is not the easiest to recycle, but if the tech is being resold or given away and it's not ending up in a drawer somewhere I honestly think it's healthy for the overall market even if it's a yearly thing. A smaller time frame sees a little excessive, but that a personal judgement.

Well, if you are second-guessing yourself, I'd actually argue that obviously you may have some reservations about it.

Let me ask you this: why did you spend the money? Is it stuff that will genuinely make your life and the lives of those around you better? Or is it stuff that you are buying to fill a void in your life caused by a lack of relationships or longing that something has yet to fill.

If it's the former, then maybe you ought to consider what actually does or doesn't make your life better. If it's the latter, then perhaps you ought to seek out those things rather than trying to buy yourself into "happiness".

For me it all has to do with time and utility.

I generally keep an iPhone for three to four years, that said I don't buy a ton of fancy add ons or chargers. I did upgrade to a top of the line iPhone 13 Pro before a work trip to London (getting lost or without money because I wanted to keep an old phone with a less than okay battery seemed stupid).

I have the same mophie wireless charger I bought on prime day five years ago. It works fine, charging your phone slower is actually better for battery life otherwise I just use macbook USB c chargers for everything else.

My only other personal standard is "life is too short to deal with slow computers". It's literally my time, and dealing with something that breaks all the time is just not worth the frustration. So in other words I just don't use windows anything.

This goes without saying, I'm otherwise a very frugal person. Not sure if it's risk aversion - more so seems like keeping options open. I had a brief period of buying everything I wanted, and that just made me feel empty and moronic. Having $$ decently invested means options. Also goes without saying, my salary is pathetic compared to most engineers here.

Tech doesn't last.

If I were to spend $2500 on a guitar I know that 20, 40, 60 or even 100 years from now that guitar will play just as well, if not better, than it does today. OTOH if I were to spend $2500 on a laptop I know that 10 years from now, if not sooner, it will be a piece of junk.

Basically this is how I justify buying guitars to my wife! :)

Some things have lasting value. Art, crystal, good furniture, those are better items on which to spend money. Technology? It goes obsolete so fast you're essentially renting the item. Which is why, BTW, I've never bought an Apple Watch. It doesn't do anything my phone can't do and I've never spent more than $40 on a Timex. If I were to start slinging around serious money into a watch it would be a Rolex or something of that ilk. I guarantee it'll work just as well 100 years from now as it does today - decades after the Apple Watch was useless.

I prefer spending my money on things that last and tech just doesn't last. If you don't mind perpetually renting items and it tickles your fancy and fits your budget, then by all means, indulge.

Are you asking them for a loan or something? "Sorry guys I don't have money to kick in for lunch today, can you spot me?" while you are wearing $500 headphones? Then yeah, you should feel bad.

Otherwise tell them to pound sand.

I’m grateful to people that splurge on tech and later sell their barely-used gadgets in eBay where I get them for cheap.

Joking (half) aside, as others (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32070678) said, it’s your hard-earned money. People will criticize you for doing what you want much more intensely than they will thank you for not doing it.

Now, if you find that many of the things you buy don’t spark joy but rather make you feel dissatisfied and start looking for the next thing to buy, then there might be a problem.

Always feel bad if it comes from within. If it comes from others/friends/peers, nothing to feel bad about.

So let me ask you. If those peers did not make you feel bad, would you feel bad on your own that you shouldn't have splurged ? If answer is No, then move on. Nothing to see here.

People always have opinions. Sometimes they are good, sometimes they are whatever. You do what works best for you. Listen to your peers but ultimately it is your life. If you want to splurge and are willing to accept consequences (good or bad), your call. It is called Freedom.

You need to stop worrying about other people moralizing your choices.

If you asked those same people if getting abortions is immoral, they would likely say no, and that no one should be moralizing a woman's right to choose what to do with their body. And they are 100% right.

And in the same vein, they should not be moralizing what you decide to do with your money.

That is only up to you to determine. If it actually makes you happy and you can afford it, go for it. If it does not actually make you happy, you need to try to figure out what hole in your heart you are trying to fill with non essential material goods. Essentially, you need to determine if you have an addiction or not.

Tech is universally one of the cheapest things on the planet. Try buying housing or cars or watches or drugs.

Deriving happiness from objects and not people is an artificial, superficial, and maladapted way of life. "Status" is a sad remnant of our simple-minded ancestors.

This creates a niche where you can stagnate or remain stunted emotionally and socially, yet compensate with gadgets.

As much as it's "wrong" to splurge on clothes, Michelin-star dinners, expensive cars, etc. If you can afford it, and you genuinely enjoy it, just go ahead and do it. De gustibus non est disputandum.

whatever brings you happiness. I spend little on experiences like vacations and tend to enjoy the experience leading to a purchase and usage of a thing. E.g. researching what guitar effect pedals would be cool is as enjoyable to me as using it to create sounds after I buy it. This also has an interesting side effect that often I'm satisfied without actually acquiring a thing but when I do - it leads to a better quality (whatever that means in that particular case) but also more expensive thing

There is nothing wrong with being a tech enthusiast. It can even be refreshing especially if you are feeling burned out. Better to be an enthusiast than to get old and stop caring.

Have a budget, stick to it, be happy.

Your money, do what you want with it.

You should work on caring less about what other people think, friends or community

There's nothing wrong with spending your own money on anything you want.

There’s no ethical consumption under capitalism, as they say, but it is possible to be less unethical (and capitalism’s probably going to be around for the foreseeable anyway, so don’t beat yourself up).

Personally: I used to be more into new shiny things than I am. I still enjoy getting new stuff, who doesn’t, but I try to temper that with enjoying getting longevity out of the stuff I already have. I think it is right to deeply consider the ecological and exploitative impact of what we buy, but unless you completely change your lifestyle to actually not need much tech at all, self-loathing austerity is miserable too. Have good justifications for the things you buy, and once you do, enjoy them. Take good care of them and find a good home for them once you don’t want them any more.

The community thinks you should read Peter Singer.

Does it bring you joy?

Find new peers.