#mediocrity

Towards Mediocrity: Do Not Tell Me What "The Average Person" Needs!

In this increasingly "politically correct" world where nobody seems eligible to be different from anyone else — lest someone gets offended — I find myself increasingly "offended" by the way such concepts as "The Average Person" is becoming more and more part of the landscape.

This morning, I was working with some photo editing software and griping a bit about the various features it lacked, and my colleague burst out saying:

"Well, the Average Person just doesn't need those features..."

Pardon Me, but I Don't Care!

Growing up, I was taught that "generalizing" was a bad idea and that I would be wiser to moderate my language with qualifiers like MOST people, instead of just saying PEOPLE and such.

I feel pretty much the same way about "The Average Person," because it has been my experience of life that there actually is no such thing as average. And to the extent that there might actually be such a thing as "average," I sure as hell am not it!

And don't get me wrong... I'm not so intellectually stunted as to not be aware that when you are creating a product — like software — you have to draw a line somewhere, in order to limit just how many bits and pieces you decide your product needs to include.

So why does "average" get me so riled up?

Flowers coming to life in our garden...

Averageness Limits Choice...

To me, one of the better examples of "averageness" would be giant retailer Wal-Mart.

Wallyworld manages to maintain bargain basement prices by pretty broadly avoiding anything but middle-of-the-road products that are pretty much guaranteed to be "popular."

Because of the way it conducts business, it leaves in its wake tens of thousands of failed "specialty stores" where you could get the interesting and unique and definitely-not-average.

The likes of Wal-Mart — and what that type of organization represents, philosophically speaking — are also a large part of the reason we now buy and new toaster when the old one stops working... rather than getting it repaired. Because you pretty much can't buy an above-average toaster that would be worth repairing, rather than throwing away... anymore.

And frankly, I don't like that kind of waste!

Strawberries blooming in our back yard...

They Don't Make 'Em Like They Used To!

I still remember a fellow named Floyd Putnam who had a small appliance repair shop when I still lived in Austin, Texas, back in the 1990's. Mr. Putnam could fix pretty much anything, and usually for less than $20... but even he saw the writing on the wall:

"I can't fix these new-fangled pieces of plastic crap," he'd say, "it's just a cheap circuit board attached to the thinnest sheet metal. They don't make 'em like they used to!"

Mr. Putnam was nearing retirement age (OK, so he was mid-70's, but who's counting?) when I moved to Washington state, but I we well aware that he was slowly becoming a victim of too many "average" toasters, irons, space heaters and other small appliances mostly made of plastic.

I think about Mr. Putnam from time to time... and it makes me consider the question whether we — as a society; as a species — are really better off because we can buy a chintzy hair dryer for $12 that needs to be replaced every 3-4 years... rather than spend $50 on one we keep for 20 years... because it IS made "the way they used to be?"

I don't have the answer, by the way... but it does make you think...

Thanks for reading!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!

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(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for Steemit) Created at 190504 02:11 PST 1004

Comments · 7

@steemeow(54)· 2674d
@d00k13(76)· 2674d
Somewhere along the way we have shifted from being original ad a positive to being socially acceptable and I believe with that has come the belief in catering to the average individual!

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@bossel(74)· 2674d
Just wait for the brave new IoT-world, when a still perfectly fine appliance tells you after 2 or 3 years that it will stop working now, because the producer doesn't provide the necessary software updates anymore.
@chesatochi(73)· 2675d
We live in a culture to buy cheap and replace it as soon as it stops to function!
@steemitbloggers(69)· 2675d
We are SO proud to have you as a member of our FANTABULOUS Power House Creatives family! uvoted and/or resteemed! ❤ MWAH!!! ❤

#powerhousecreatives
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@donnadavisart(73)· 2675d
So many things I agree with here @denmarkguy

The generalisations to not offend are the most hilarious. And yet people are now trained up to be 'prepared to offend' but in a way making a population that is always on the verge of offense and being little 'word police' is not only scary but it always turns back on them. The 'self righteous' who feel they are on the 'side of the good' eventually fall into a group of offenders. As the old adage says, "Live by the sword die by the sword" so just insert P.C. in there and it's fairly true.

The mass produced blandness of planned obsolescence is so odd it's laughable. And now that we've so much garbage it will be considered the 'everyman's' problem, but not the huge corp that was pumping it out. I'm sure we'll all see the 'solution' in some new tax that would ironically be more expensive than our having had to buy LESS things of GOOD value that we can FIX but such sublte irony is often lost on the masses of today.

I did a project where I lived like it was 1955 for a year and replaced many kitchen things with authentic old pieces from 55 or earlier. I still have those things. I even bought an old 1951 refrigerator that was running in someones basement and it is STILL going strong and since I've had it I've had to replace a brand new one twice!

Our coffee maker is the old perculator I bought at a tag sale for pennies, works wonderful, my blender is also an old 50's one bought off ebay and it purss like a porsche. I have a 'new one' from 'wallyworld' I used in my studio for chopping and shredding paper for art projects it was loud and lasted about a month.

We live in odd times.
@jacobtothe(77)· 2675d
There are a lot of factors that go into manufacturing considerations, retail pricing, and everything in between. Economic analysis gets messy fast, and anyone with a simple answer to questions like price and quality changes over time is probably either ignorant or arrogant. Why do people buy Harbor Freight drills instead of Hilti? Some don't anticipate needing long-term tools, can't afford better quality, or expect theft or damage before they break. Then there are matters of international trade, domestic fiscal policy, individual time preference, etc.

I wish I had more options to buy stuff "made like it used ta be" though, even though nostalgia also distorts that perception of the past sometimes, too. Tonka trucks were better when they were made out of metal. It is good to have the option to fix electronics. Buttons trump touch screens in cars, and I want a physical keyboard on my phone. It would be nice to not have to wait for updates to download every other time I turn on a device.

Things that fit the average or appeal to the least common denominator are never going to revive quality. An apocryphal story about military logistics comes to mind. Supposedly the military took measurements of recruits to determine what the "average" soldier measured so they could simplify uniforms, and it turned out none of the hundreds measured fit the "average" single standard they calculated. Likewise, just listen to pop music and see how pathetic it is when popular taste is pursued instead of artists fostering excellence and innovation in music.