majormajor
One Too Many
- Messages
- 1,713
- Location
- UK
Be it jackets, guitars, or any number of other items that people tend to obsess over, I chalk a lot of these trends up to the internet. Online forums such as this one allows like-minded individuals to develop a skewed sense of normal behavior. To the average person, a jacket running in the four figure range or an acoustic guitar running in the five figure range is just plain insane. Now consider that some people have not just one expensive jacket or one expensive guitar but multiples, sometimes many more. To an average person on the street that's simply nuts, but in the security of an online forum, it doesn't seem so abnormal. This applies to countless other objects or interests and it's a big part of why people seek out others who feel and act the same way. Sure, collectors have always existed, but online forums have a way of way taking people who start with a mere interest in something and develops that interest into a full blown obsession. The more we see others exhibiting this behavior, the more logical it all seems. Soon, our sense of normalcy is highly skewed due to this group dynamic. In the end, many end up so fixated on acquiring items that they're interested in, they sometimes loose track of what interested them in the first place. For example, someone fixating on the individual high-end stereo components to the point where that person doesn't ever just sit back and enjoy listening to music any more, or becoming so obsessed with the specific woods used in the construction of an acoustic guitar that the person spends more time chatting about it on the internet than they actually spend playing the thing. It's always been a crazy world, the internet has simply gotten everyone together and has enabled them to influence one another in ways that were not imaginable a few decades ago. This definitely has an impact in smaller niche markets where products made by highly skilled craftspeople have an otherwise limited market. All of a sudden, the world has learned about their product and is knocking at their door.
I'm not knocking anyone for their interests or passions and feel that everyone is entitled to spend their money however they see fit. I'm simply making an observation of how I see the internet playing a role in all of this. At times, it's eerily fascinating to me. The initial search for knowledge regarding quality leather jackets is what lead me to TFL in the first place. I've learned a lot here and for that I'm grateful as I ended up finding exactly what I was looking for in a jacket. I can say though that If I even begin to consider purchasing a third expensive jacket then I'll know it's time to take a break from this place. I've already purchased one more jacket than I originally planned on. That doesn't strike me quite as odd as it would have before I found this place.
Very well put. And very true