Being able so easily to dispose of things makes us insensitive to the actual objects

[keannu]

Does this(actual objects) mean that we don't care about the values of the current things we possess as we can always replace them with a better one? Or does it mean general products, old or new? Like in the examples, before buying the new car, are we already insensitive to the old car's usability?

go2mo-26
ex) There are many products thrown out long before the end of their practical life. A study shows that 92 percent of used cars for sale in Britain in 2005 had a serviceable future life of at least five years; 86 percent of the buyers of new computers in 2004 ran the same programs they ran on their old computers. Consumers buy the potential power of new objects rather than the power they actually use. The new automobile can reach speeds of a hundred miles an hour, even though the driver is usually stuck in traffic. Consumers are more motivated by anticipation than by operation . Getting the latest thing is more important than making durable use of it. Being able so easily to dispose of things makes us insensitive to the actual objects we possess.

 

[SoothingDave]

It means the things we own right now.

I'm not sure what you are reading, but cars are not "thrown out" by their original owners. They are traded in, because they do still have a value. This trade-in process creates a secondary market in used cars that allows other people to purchase cars for a lower price than buying new.

If every person kept every car from the moment it first left the dealer until the car died, then there would be a lot fewer people who could afford a car. Basically, all those who can only afford used cars now would be priced out of the market.

 

[keannu]

Thanks a lot! Your view is kind of focused on the poor people's position in relation to this issue, but I'd like to focus on the literal meaning of the sentence itself. So is the writer criticizing people's tendency to depend on new products with greater but not practical functions to make them not realize how valuable their products they own right now are?

 

[5jj]

Because we can get rid of things easily, we forget that the things we possess are still usable, (and possibly as useful as the new things we want)