A few weeks ago, I went to a party and they had a "bring-me" game where the host calls out an item/s or a theme and if you have it, just run up and you win a prize. The host was a tech-geek so he called out "the one with the most gadgets on him now". I won hands down... It took a while to show everything but it was worth it, I got a stack of blank DVDs as a prize... He was a geek as I said (not that I'm against geeks or anything like that as I am one myself).
As I got home today from work, walked up to my bedroom and started unloading all the crap that I got out of my car the question struck me;
Do we have too many gadgets?
I start by putting my Crumpler camera bag down. This contains a Nikon D70s, several lenses, chargers, a Nikon-iPod adapter, an iPod Shuffle and a Nikon SB-600 flash. That gives me at least four different electronic widgets. With this bag is a Case Logic case containing a portable Philips DVD-player/iPod dock, along with chargers, cables and etc for this thing.
I start emptying my pockets and I pull out an HP iPaq 3750, an Apple iPod Video, a Nokia 6600 and a Nokia 2626, an HSBC electronic ID thingy, a watch and a small LED flashlight. That's seven more.
On my bedside table is a digital alarm clock, a clock radio, a Sony DiscMan, a USB charger and a Nikon F60 and Konica Acom-01 film camera. Add six more to the tally.
In the bathroom is an electric shaver. That's it for the bathroom.
Once you get to my other room, it's a whole different story. There's a Sony 25" TV, a Philips DVD player, a Pioneer amplifier, Pioneer and Mission speakers, a Sony PS2, lots of toys, two PCs, two flat panel monitors, one CRT monitor, a wi-fi router, a network switch, a wireless keyboard and mouse kit, dozens of spare PC parts (enough to build two or three more PCs), at least three UPS systems (Uninterruptible Power Supplies), at least two voltage regulators, a dozen or so cooling fans for the PCs and network stuff, several chargers, several docking units for the iPaq and iPod, remote controllers for the TV and DVD players, remote for a PC TV-tuner, Icom two-way radios, calculators, a toaster oven, a waffle maker, a fridge, power converters, a bug zapper, two HP printers, several subwoofers and two Altec Lansing PC speaker systems. In short it's a madhouse. I figure at least thirty to forty items in there...
The total tally/estimate so far? Around 50 units of electronic bits and pieces...
So in my normal day, I encounter around 40+ electronic gadgets. Do I need all this crap? The ones from my pocket are of course indispensable since this is my survival gear. I have music, movies, ebooks, passwords, communications and etc. The camera bag is also a mainstay since I hardly go through a day without taking several shots of something interesting (to me at least). The shaver? Hmm... maybe 2x a week max. The DVD player and the PS2 I hardly touch these days, maybe as little as 3-5x a month. The PCs i use almost the moment I get home and they're running even when I sleep or I'm at work (either downloading, converting videos or running a game or two). Speakers are of course part of the PC experience so let's just lump that in there. Alarm clocks, the discman and other necessities are of course a given.
To think that with all this crap I'm still planning to get a Nintendo Wii and a DS-lite soon, possibly another Nikon camera body, another flash, a laptop, a new PDA, a light meter, a 100gb iPod (when it comes out maybe in late March) and a host of other things.
So, do we have too many gadgets? The answer would be a resounding "it depends". Like with most subjective questions, it's always an if-then toss up. For me, it's just right. While the TV, DVD player and PS2 are largely unused, my girlfriend uses it so it's not wasted. To most people, my daily hundred-lbs of gear would be overkill and will probably be intolerable on their backs. A pro photographer will probably have 2-3x more photo gear than I do, with heavier lenses, bigger flashguns, several tripods and reflectors. An auto-mechanic would carry a dozen tools, a butcher would carry several knives and I carry my body weight in gear. Not much difference really.
So if anyone ever asks you why you carry around so much crap, tell them to bugger off.
Or maybe you can just mutter "it's exercise" and be done with it...
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