Buyhard

A Buyhard is defined as a person who buys the best equipment before even starting the hobby.

It is kind of making fun of the person who seeks belonging or the clout of being part of community despite not really even being part of the activity. You see those types a lot in places like run clubs where they have garmin and the most expensive running shoes despite not even completing a 10K.

We are buying to belong but we are seeking community.

Algorithms have a funny way of putting you in boxes, or more specifically they are advanced enough now to know that you are someone fitting into a particular box or niche. I fit into fitness, mma, programming, games and art.

As such the algorithm spends a lot of time trying to suggest me things that I will need to buy to fit into a particular niche.

Nobody is immune to this. I think when you are fed so much information about an activity you will only see the people who are engaging with it on a high level of competency.

So with a little bit of motivational fomo you will feel like you really need the shiny new thing to fit into this world.

There is a sort of aspirational quality to it. Buying stuff replaces participation, the hard work of showing up and doing the dirty work to get better.

Who needs to actually practice running or cycling or swimming or muay thai if I can just replace all that effort required with a new object!

Having that object will make people think I am unique and interesting!

I am not immune to a little retail therapy, but sometimes when I am served these ads I really sit down to question do I really need to be shown this?

My philosophy for buying things is buy once, use it until it physically cannot be used anymore (re: undies which expose more than they actually cover lmao jk...).

I am still using my laptop I bought way back in 2015, it's still chugging along and they will have to pry it from my cold dead hands because it works damn it.

That being said I do know the appeal of buying a new shiny toy.

But there is the rub, Most of the stuff being shilled on instagram is expensive for no reason. There is no necessity for buying it and honestly if you spent enough time looking in amazon you could find the exact same thing for much cheaper because at the end of the day they are all coming from the same factory. So maybe shop around and you will for sure find the same trinket for much cheaper and free shipping.

Do I really need to spend money to be happy?

This is where I feel like It is a Yes and No.

To this day I still regret the decision of not buying a new Laptop or PC. The current AI bubble has caused consumer hardware to become prohibitively expensive and the usual option of wait for a discount is not going to happen until the bubble pops. But then we will have another problem on our hands and buying consumer grade electronics will be last thing on my mind.

I think right now I am repeating the mantra "The things you own, end up owning you" repeatedly. I don't need a fancy new laptop.

I just wish we had quality things which we could pass down generations, someone really needs to make something like a cast iron pan but for technology.