My new iPhone 17 Pro Max turned up the other day.
As I have written before, I justified the outlay of just over $2,000 AUD because my pervious iPhone 12 does not have eSim capability which I want for my impending Japan trip.

I really didn’t need to upgrade. I would probably definitely absolutely get by without the eSim.

Whilst waiting to send the old phone back to Apple for a trade-in refund, I have two slabs of technology. Guess what? On a non-granular level there is absolutely no difference between them. They both run the exact same apps, they both look the same, they both suck up just as much of my attention.

Sure the iPhone 17 has a slightly better camera, and a few extra buttons on the side and allegedly far greater magical tech hidden inside its impenetrable casing….but for all intents and purposes they are the same.

I did not need to buy a new one.

There is a large dollop of guilt with a side salad of moral dissonance that I fell for my self-imagined margin of discontent around needing to upgrade. Especially after I wrote this. Oh, the hypocrisy…

iPhone 17? Nope.

In fact, it is bothering me so much that I feel it might just agitate a change in my future consumer behaviours.
We shall see….the hypocrisy is strong in this one.

I mean, what is the point of experiencing all these strong internal beliefs about what is important during this age of the great unraveling if I just cruise along in the fast lane of reflexive resource consumption and material aggrandisement?

Words are easy peasy, but it is actions that are the proof in the pudding. Actions hold you accountable. Actions are your karma¹.

Also: You cant write poems about tigers if you live like a mouse.

1. Karma = intentional actions which leads to Vipāka, the ripening or maturation of those actions. It is a complicated non-linear relationship but, you know…. as you sow, so shall you reap. ↩︎