The Cult of the New and Controlled Obsolescence

        Habermas's idea of the "cult of the new" is something that is problematic for Habermas himself. The idea of the need for constant innovation and progression, such as the controlled obsolescence of Apple products, dominates our consumer culture. Rather than worrying about important world issues, we as a society worry about inventing a new iPhone with the newest technological innovations. This controlled obsolescence is a symptom of the cult of the new, as we are encouraged, often by advertising, to buy more because it is bigger, better and faster. We as consumers feed into this cult of the new by waiting outside of Apple stores for new releases of their products and preordering them months in advance. There is societal pressure for consumers to conform by buying into the hype. Lately, I have felt the pressure to upgrade my phone to an iPhone 6, even though my 5S is less than two years old and is generally undamaged. However, after one owns one generation of iPhone for an "extended" period of time (aka less than a year, even though this is not actually a long period of time - the cult of the new and our ever-progressing culture make us think that this period of time is lengthy), one is left behind by society, as everyone else has already moved on to the next big thing. We experience a pressure to conform, which means advancing with the rest of the world. There is also pressure from a social standpoint, as having the newest technology is a status symbol in our society. We see celebrities who have the iPhone 6, and we want to get it, too. Once a sizable enough number of people have bought the new gadget, we feel pressure to buy it as well so that we can fit in.
        There is a saying stating not to fix something if it isn't broken, and while new innovations in technology are a positive thing for the world, the technology industry abuses this notion by rolling out new technology that isn't fundamentally different from its previous version. We think that we are getting something new and exceptional, when in fact the product that we are buying is extremely similar to the generation before it. Habermas warns against the cult of the new, and I think that this is one of the reasons why; this constant innovation without meaningful change can be a negative thing for our society.