Extension of the self – why you always want the latest gadgets

When the first iPhone went on sale on 29 June 2007 its release was likened to that of a “cultural event” and a “pivotal event in time”. People queued all night, for many hours, to be one of the first to own this new device This was no doubt due in part to the fact that Apple had marketed the release so well beforehand – six out of ten Americans surveyed on release day already knew it was coming.

Such queues and events were commonplace – when the iPhone was launched in Poland in the summer of 2008, it turned out that Telekomunikacja Polska, Poland’s largest telecoms operator, had paid young film extras, who looked fashionable, to wait in line for several hours before the stores opened, in order to attract attention and spread the word to pedestrians that stopped and took interest in what was happening. What could cause such a frenzy? After all, it was just a phone.

Photo – iPhone queues on launch day

This is where psychology comes into play. Edward Bernays, often cited as the ‘father of public relations’, and nephew of Sigmund Freud, wrote in his 1928 book ‘Propaganda’ that “…Modern propaganda is a consistent, enduring effort to create or shape events to influence the relations of the public to an enterprise, idea or group… Events and activities must be created in order to put ideas into circulation, in these channels, which are as varied as the means of human communication.”

This line of thought is further expanded upon by Adam Curtis, in his BBC TV documentary series called ‘The Century of the Self’, positing the idea that, in the present day, the business world uses models developed by Bernays, building upon his uncle Sigmund’s earlier work, to read into the secret unconscious desires of consumers, in order create and then fulfil their fetishistic desires, by making products seem as pleasing as possible, so that they are seen as if they were extensions of themselves and their personalities.

According to some writers, in order for products to become part of a purchaser’s extended self, these products had to be able to enable the consumer to define their self-worth via the ownership of such products in the first place, as well defining how these items are ‘embraced’ into a person’s extended self. For example, the relatively high cost of purchasing an iPhone was not an issue for early adopters, mainly because that high pricing point was used by the purchasers to show off their ‘high end techno-social status’ – like a peacock showing off its plumage as an advertisement that it is better than another rival peacock.

Next time you feel compelled to buy the latest gadget or device, take a step back and ask yourself why you want to buy it, and if you really require the utility the device offers, or if by owning it you are tapping into your own unconscious desires.