The Need for Balance

Everywhere I look today, all I see is bling.

Whether its the most expensive cell phone, the biggest big screen, the smallest music player, or just the hippest new techie toy, we’re all obsessed with having the newest and best in technology.

Don’t mistake me for some sort of anti-materialist however. Wanting and obtaining all of these new gadgets is both fun and economically efficient, I just worry that sometimes we might be taking things a bit too far.

When our associational participation withers (no one joins the bowling league) and instead economically-driven behavior such as gambling, picking out the newest credit card, and forex trading become our leisure activities, then something substantial has happened to our society. Whats more, when traditional lessons such as saving money for a rainy day are passe, while consolidating your debt and lying to our family about debt so we can get the newest toy are our focus, what is left of us?

I am just expressing what I think we are all sensing: a need for balance.

Yes, this season’s web2.0 app is interesting, the latest Digg uproar is intriguing, our personal finances are to be focused on … but none of this should be to the exclusion of the rest of our lives.

Humans are not iPods, Macs, Vista’s, Diggs, or anything else. We are humans.

Now that this brief service announcement is over, you can now go back to checking out Apple’s latest developments…