A thought:

Perhaps when we are always trying to “over-optimize” and “improve”, we are actually becoming LESS productive, MORE distracted, and less effective.

When to upgrade our phones?

Perhaps with the phone:

Only buy a new one once the old phone literally breaks, or is literally causing you stress from how slow/unreliable/broken it is.

In other words, upgrade as late as humanly possible. In praise of becoming a procrastinator–late-adopter.

Why this Neo-mania?

Nassim Taleb (Antifragile) calls it ‘Neo-mania’:

We have a mania (craziness) for the new.

In fact, we love the new for the sake of the new — rather than being critical and asking ourselves:

What if the new technology actually WORSENS our life?

Our sucker-proneness makes us think: that which is newer is always better. But often a lot of “new” and “innovative” things are actually WORSE than the older technology.

For example, consider the first “ebooks” on CD-ROM on old brick desktop computers with massive CRT monitors. These were inferior to paperback books. Even now, I still prefer reading books on paperback (when compared to iPad or Kindle). Best “contrast”, no blue light to keep you up, and the technology doesn’t get outdated (you aren’t always trying to “upgrade” your reading device).

Conclusion: More faith in the old and classics (than the new and modern)

Lesson:

Always be skeptical of new technology– and don’t be too “eager beaver” to immediately upgrade or try the new.

ERIC