necesity, passion/hobby, or luxury/consumerism

[blingbling]

some things like food can hardly be considered a luxury. but when you need to import your caviar from the baltic sea it does.

how would these be categorized: nececity, hobby/passion, or just luxury/spending

a wallet
a cellular phone
a laptop computer
a lock for a bike
flatware
batteries
stationary

what about more complicated situations. for example, a tennis player may deem a tennis racquet under the hobby/passion category. but what about a machine that strings tennis racquets? what category would that be? it must be for sure that a tennis players do not enjoy sitting down and running cow intestine through their frames so its probably not a hobby/passion. he just "needs" this to keep his frames at the right tension. but then that raises the question that he doesnt need tennis frames in the first place.

and then there is the really strange paradox that hobbies/passions are very rarely technologically dependant, so it doesn't really follow the stereo typical pattern of lavish spending. for example us drivers love driving, but many would prefer not to pay for an automatic transmission. likewise a photophile wouldn't use a digital camera if he or she really was dedicated to photography (i could be wrong). can you think of a technology-dependant a passion-inducing hobby? i can only think of ones that purists deal with the bare-bones.

[Matra et Alpine]

#1 has to be browsing UCP

[LeonOfTheDead]

well, I have a passion for hi-res images of cars.
that requires a computer and an external HD. both tecnological devices, both (possibly) expensive (even if I payed 350 € for the notebook and 90 € for a 750 GB HD).
but apart from keep alive my hobby, do I really need a notebook?
being a student living far (not that much) from home, it's useful to keep in touch with friends, read news (as a student, I watch tv very rarely tv), but I don't use it for my studies.
so do I need it? to be strictly honest, no, so I didn't spend a fortune of it.

I had the hobby of airplanes modeling, which wasn't very hi-tech, but could be quite expensive in some cases.

my best friend has the passion for cinema and movies.
quite expensive, 10 € per movie averagely, and even hi-tech since you need a vcr player, a dvd player, possibly a good and big television. cinema's books are quite expensive too (and so are car's books).

[blingbling]

but see that raises the question that if you really were into hi-res images of automobiles, you would be dealing with high quality analogue/print photos, wouldn't that be the case?

and cinema fanatic? same thing - you just need a vcr and a tv. a dvd player, yeah i guess, but thats not really high tech now. and when it WAS high tech a while back, the best movies are probably not on dvd either.

i guess i should have worded as technologically up to date. as there are few hobbies that require the most up to date technology to achive maximum gratification. photography, for example, would still be one that isn`t THAT technologically needy. but image editing IS, because every adobe photoshop is better than the previous one.

and perhaps so is the hi-res car image fetish too, say for example if you needed a printer.

i am angry. i made this thread for clarification but the lines are just getting more blurred. i really made this to help myself think about budgeting for the new years and it looks like im going to be planning for a while. please keep the posts coming i need constructive mental stimulation!

[Matra et Alpine]

The photo point is an intersting one. Before digital then the spread of car images was limited to magazines and expensive photo library resources to augment the few pics we coudl take at the few shows/events we coudl attend.
Digital is what drove the massive expansion in availability of high quality images.
Never mind that the cost to keep large colour prints on quality Kodak paper so you can enjoy the image is horrendous. The computer screen and digital photoframes mean we can enjoy many more orders of magnitude images than we ever coudl before. AND it opens up a worldwide market for photos that is now in the hands of the photographer rather than the media libraries.

[LeonOfTheDead]

but see that raises the question that if you really were into hi-res images of automobiles, you would be dealing with high quality analogue/print photos, wouldn't that be the case?

and cinema fanatic? same thing - you just need a vcr and a tv. a dvd player, yeah i guess, but thats not really high tech now. and when it WAS high tech a while back, the best movies are probably not on dvd either.

i guess i should have worded as technologically up to date. as there are few hobbies that require the most up to date technology to achive maximum gratification. photography, for example, would still be one that isn`t THAT technologically needy. but image editing IS, because every adobe photoshop is better than the previous one.

and perhaps so is the hi-res car image fetish too, say for example if you needed a printer.

i am angry. i made this thread for clarification but the lines are just getting more blurred. i really made this to help myself think about budgeting for the new years and it looks like im going to be planning for a while. please keep the posts coming i need constructive mental stimulation!

hi-res images demand digital images. how could I find all the images I have right now without a pc and internet?
I could still have a lot of them, but not in high quality, and surely in a lower number. How could I obtain pictures of American or Japanese cars?

for as regards movies, you needed and still need a dvd player for the ebst quality, so it was another thing you are obliged to buy. Don't know if blueray are worth the money, at first sight I would say I didn't noticed a big difference but i could be wrong.

photography: IIRC they are stopping the production of films, so it's quite obvious to switch to digital cameras, and it also makes things easier, you can take more pictures, no need to print them, it also easier and cheaper to learn.
it's not obligatory, but it makes more sense.

still you don't need the best tech on the market in those cases, but at a certain point, if we have the possibility, we are all going to spend more than what is the minimum required for our hobbies.

say you like track days. apart if you live in Monza, a lot of cheap cars are very fun in the majority of world's tracks, but all of us, if possible, would buy something more than say an old Mini Cooper.
we would not end up buying an FXX but perhaps even Matra's RX-8 or CMC's G35 aren't exactly low end.

btw, what are you budgeting?

[blingbling]

to matra: yes, definately a rare case of technology situationally reducing spending

to lod: yes you need those things for hi-res photographic collecting, but do you purchase a new camera often? (this question is not rhetoric, i actually want to know how often). but i guess for the computer part, a new purchase for the newest technology is not needed, as you agree.

and as for your movie fanatic, dvd's provide the best imaging yes, but don't film enthusiasts watch it for the "art"?

[LeonOfTheDead]

to matra: yes, definately a rare case of technology situationally reducing spending

to lod: yes you need those things for hi-res photographic collecting, but do you purchase a new camera often? (this question is not rhetoric, i actually want to know how often). but i guess for the computer part, a new purchase for the newest technology is not needed, as you agree.

and as for your movie fanatic, dvd's provide the best imaging yes, but don't film enthusiasts watch it for the "art"?

well, you need to see properly the art.
watching movies requires decent stuff even to enhance what the director and his crew did. it will also help you to be absorbed by the story as if you were there. but you don't need the latest stuff.

for as regards buying new cameras, I bought my (parents') camera for last Christmas, and I think I would buy the next one just after this will be dead.
the GF bought a DLSR this year, and I discovered I like taking pics, but I'm in no way a photo enthusiasts, so I can't say I would change it often.

I would have even changed my notebook this year, but the old one (4 years, it was originally dad's notebook, I inherited it since he wasn't using it anymore) died. I went for the cheaper one, since I don't really use it apart from collecting pics, internet, mail and the usual word/excel stuff.

I bought the external HD just because I had this paranoia about loosing all the pics, and when the old notebook it heavily damaged the internal hd (but I managed, difficulty, to recover all the data), and just after some months after I bought this one, the HD freaked out. warranty provided me of a new one, and even that time I managed to save the data.
So I bought the external HD, and every evening I store the new data on it.

so, an hobby can demand some costs, but it's always up to you ho much you want to spend for it.

[roosterjuicer]

One word. GOLF

[blingbling]

do you need the latest for that?

[LeonOfTheDead]

do you need the latest for that?

I would say that if you hobby is golf you can afford the latest.

[blingbling]

yes but, don't sports usually equate to consistency, and constantly changing your sticks would reduce thatÉ

i mean its the same thing in tennis but even all the professionals use the same racquet and strings as always

[Ferrer]

I think that in the end it all becomes a matter of priorities. Once you have your basic necesities covered everything else can be devoted to whatever you fancy the most.

And it doesn't matter if it's a hobby or a luxury. Some people like to travel, others like to spendt it sculptures and other like skiing. Fair enough.

Sometimes though one of your hobbies crosses the necessity line. For instance we are car enthusiasts and therefore are prepared to spend that extra something in cars, or car-related items. But perhaps a car is included in your necessities because of work or something. Then you are lucky you can spend something extra that another person with a hobby with no connection with his/her life can't.

[my porsche]

a wallet
a cellular phone
a laptop computer
a lock for a bike
flatware
batteries
stationary

Luxury.
Necessary luxury.
Luxury.
Luxury.
Luxury.
Necessary to run luxuries.
Luxury.

[Kitdy]

I think the issue hear is the meaning of what is a necessity and what is not a necessity.

I don't see anything as being a necessary - there is a always a condition on it for me on necessity to me. Food and water are not necessary - they are necessary to maintain human life for example. So if you share my view that necessities are always dependent on some factor, then everyone can have difference views of what are necessities. For one person, maybe all they need to be happy is a TV and some friends, another person may want a house, lots of gadgets, friends, a lover, lots of money, whatever. It's all about whatever your own perception is - I think post-modernists would agree with this interpretation.