A new book (The Progress Paradox by Gregg Easterbrook) examines some of the reasons why – when our lifestyles are better than they ever were, when we live much longer than our grandparents, when ordinary people have much that, not long ago, only a very rich person could dream of having – we are still not satisfied.  I have not read the book yet, but the reviews suggest various reasons for our dissatisfaction.  However, one that I haven't seen mentioned (though it may be in the book) is that the possessions we have are themselves the source of our discontent.

Nothing seems to work as it should (if it works at all), many things are terribly complicated (leading to much frustration when we try to operate them), little seems to last very long (last year's great new appliance is today's trash or garage sale item), and so on.  While it has always been true that what we think we want doesn't always (or even often) bring us the satisfaction that we expect, this disconnect between expectations and real; We keep hoping that the new diet aid will make us slimmer, that the new car will bring us prestige and comfort, that the new computer will ease the burden of daily life, that the new wonder drug will end pain forever – but they never do.  If our lives are measured out in a series of small disappointments, is it any wonder that we feel discontented?

The second, and related, reason is that whatever we get, we're generally stuck with it.  Nowadays, once we've bought that new car, computer, or whatever, nobody gives a hoot whether we're satisfied.  The more high-tech the product is, the more likely this is to be true.  The makers don't want us to be satisfied – at least, not for long.  If we are, how can they sell us a newer model or an upgrade?  The whole principle of modern marketing is to feed on our dissatisfaction with what we have.  Products are built to wear out, to fulfill only as much as the minimum, and then to have us crying for a replacement or something else.  The ultimate lie in virtually every advertisement is:  "Of course, you're not content with what you have. Buying our product will change all of that."  And if you don't think that modern marketing is playing with our brains and feeding on our discontentment (thus exacerbating how discontent we are), spend a few hours watching commercial TV.  We don't even have to watch TV to be reminded of how dissatisfied we're supposed to be because our psyches are being twisted by a ubiquitous barrage of reminders that we're unhappy, miserable people whose only answer is to buy something.