Re:The hype about an incoming wave of tech IPOs has undersco...
by closeparen on Saturday May 18, 2019 @02:11AM
(#19945964)
I don’t buy the status symbol thing. You buy a car like that for what you can do with it when no one else is around. When there are people to see you driving it, it’s going to waste. (Except at a track day, but you’re really unlikely to have the flashiest car at a track day, even with a Porsche).
Skiing requires skis. Hiking requires boots. Photography requires a camera. Driving requires a car. Sure you can do all of those activities much more cheaply, and spending will not automatically improve your skills or enjoyment, but when you are really into something there is a certain very real pleasure in using excellent gear. It’s not social status, in fact it often costs social status and stresses relationships to nerd out about your hobby that way.
Are you genuinely happy when you have a nice car and nice clothes, or are you merely matching the expectations of happiness of our current society? These things are the very definition of status symbol, and ultimately they are out of you control.
Imho happiness based on material things is very limited once you have the basics. When your parents are one step from death, when you get a kid, when your good health will slowly leave you &c. Your Porsche and your nice cloths will be way down on your list of happiness sources.
Basing internal happiness on external things seems like a recipe for disaster. First there is no limit on how much shit money can buy, second material things have no power against the true life hardships. You might temporarily delay some of them but that's a far cry from "happiness".