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It's okay to want nicer things

As the world wide web and online commerce tottered through its early years, comedienne Jennifer Saunders foretold our ‘cyber-space hypervirtual bloody reality’ and quipped:

”I don't want more choice, I just want nicer things!”
— Edina Monsoon

Ugh. We got more choices instead of nicer things, Eddie.

Jennifer Saunders as Edina Monsoon in 'Absolutely Fabulous'

The number of choices foisted on us is hardly about meeting diverse needs or interests. The cost of making and selling a variation is low thanks to technology. This allows greed-fueled merchants to bombard us with choices. More, more, more!

Our shell-shocked brains must untangle decision fatigue. In the darkened theater of convolution, merchants prey on our weary state to eek out a higher margin for the same product and manipulating us into additional purchases through fabricated novelty and scarcity.

It's okay to fall for these lures. I do, sometimes.1 We're meant to.

I'm making a list, and checking it twice​

I appreciate people who practice the craft of stripping away complexity and making nicer things. The pains they take to make choices on my behalf and offer their considered, opinionated creations is praiseworthy in a society high on slop and haste.

This page regroups my collection of observations about some of the nicer things I like. My list might include things that rhyme with stuff that you appreciate. I welcome your suggestions and other reactions.

I also collect names of the fallen and of imposters. The ones who already devoured their lump of coal.

Product death these days is often brought on through a sophisticated smash-and-grab. A perfectly good, profitable business is captured by robbers, saddled with impossible obligations, and left for dead.

Imposters really want us to believe that they create nice things. Instead, they manipulate us, often with cult-like belief systems. They trade in troubled waters of disorganization, dumb choices, and despair.

My nice list​

My naughty list​

Hope in more nice things​

I wish for brighter days, where avarice is kneecapped and generally despised. No good comes of it.

I hope our abundance is reclaimed and we can share more nice things, together.

If you have something nice to share, get in touch.

— Matt

Footnotes​

  1. Fuck you, General Mills, and your "Limited Edition Lucky Charms: Just Magical Marshmallows!"
    I will both devour you and despise you for what you are. ↩