Gadgets & Gizmo’s
Who doesn’t love a gadget? Inventions crafted by clever minds bridge the gap between our hands and endless outcomes. We once had to light candles to see, run miles to travel, and write letters to express our love. Though our modern world has filled these gaps with wit, persistence, trials, and failures that we now live with seamlessly, ignorant of any other way. We ride the subway to work, our coffee is brewed for us, and our love letters appear on a screen in a blue bubble, instantly.
As an avid foodie, kitchen gadgets fascinate me. So much, I convince myself that they’re necessities. (My own hands won’t do). I am marveled by machines that ease my tasks. An air fryer, a spice grinder, a Nespresso machine.
Though modern tools trick our minds in a deceitful way. They are designed to do so through clever advertising which highlights our lack and creates the illusion of a bigger problem. It hacks our mind’s natural tendency to spot greener grass. This is not the fault of the mind. How else would we have evolved, discovered lands, and crafted inventions? It is when we live in a society that exploits this innate motion forward, that we are numb of the truth.
What is consumerism but a broken bridge between desire and fulfillment? We’re sold greener grass with rotten soil. We’re all victims. It is not to say that all inventions are evil, quite literally none of them are. It is the way in which we are sold them, the way our worth and stature depend on them. Example: An oven is a spectacular invention, and so is the air fryer. One is a tool that allows us to stay involved in the process. Before getting your food in the oven, there is a dance to be enjoyed, vegetables to chop, meat to marinate, and a process to unfold. The air fryer takes many of these steps away. It says “let me take that off your hands”. But, maybe I want to use them? Maybe I want to feel the oil? Maybe I want to hear the crackle of exotic spice?
Over time, my kitchen became a lab. I have gadgets and gizmos everywhere, staring at me with beady eyes. Yet, I find myself, time and time again, yearning to be a part of it. Why wouldn’t I use the pan soaked in oil and herbs instead of an air frier that resembles a satellite? What is it within us that is convinced that solutions are better solved outside of ourselves? It is because we have come to trust that there will always be an easier way out. But just as much as we are sold the illusion of a “solution” to “inconveniences”, the more we can look at the illusion of the solution itself.
Inventions once bridged substantial gaps in the quality of our lives. Lightbulbs to see, electricity to run things, cars to travel. Though as time passes and the world spins, hot and impatient, the space between us shortens. We become more and more convinced that there is something out there to make it easier. But we must ask ourselves what we sacrifice in this process. I believe it is presence. We give up the challenge to surrender to the unknown and hand it over to wires and plugs. Our dinner is ready quickly and mindlessly with the press of a button. So is the process.
Over-consumption is curiosities’ hit man. Our culture is undoubtedly numbed by quick solutions and quicker results. It’s me. I’m culture. I drown in it myself. Abandoning writing to get a bit higher. Neglecting the process of being a bad painter before a good one. And it is my responsibility to reflect on this and share it as I know i am not alone. As i know we all have hell within us that is monetized. (the poets for sure)
I’m writing this letter for us. I’m writing this for our hands. I’m writing this for clearer counters. And as I write this on a highly sophisticated device as my laptop, I can reflect on the duality of the situation. On the gratitude, i have for the tools, the light bulbs, the radios, and pretty lamps. It is in the name of dependency, in the lack of self-trust, that I believe we need to reclaim some power. I need to reclaim some power.
