How to Resist the Urge to Buy a New Phone

We live in a society that is flooding with consumerism and mass production. As such, many people feel obligated or pressured into buying a new phone, or other such electronic devices. However, more often than not, buying a new phone leads to buyer’s remorse, so you may want to ignore the urge to do so.

Still, need help? Perhaps you should ask yourself the following questions to determine if you need to buy a new phone, or if you should stick with your current model for at least a few more years.

Does it work well?

The first question you should ask yourself is: do you really need to upgrade? To do so, check to see if your current phone still works well. For instance, does your phone run slower now than when you first bought it? Does it crash a lot? Are there weird sound anomalies or visual glitches that pop up every now and then?

The first question you should ask yourself is: do you need to upgrade? To do so, check to see if your current phone still works well. For instance, does your phone run slower now than when you first bought it? Does it crash a lot? Are there weird sound anomalies or visual glitches that pop up now and then?

Fortunately, even if you’re currently dealing with some slowdown or glitches, you can usually fix them on your own. Or, you can download some diagnostic and repair apps, many of which are available for free, to pinpoint and remove any malicious spyware, malware, or viruses that may be the cause of the issues.

Do I need a new phone with all the bells and whistles?

Many companies will launch new adverts with bright, mesmerizing visuals and epic soundtracks to entice people to buy their latest and greatest gadgets. But perhaps you should stop and ask yourself if the new product on display is worth all the hype?

More often than not, new phone models tend to be only incrementally better than their predecessors in terms of actual functionality. Many just have a simple design makeover to dupe consumers into thinking that their new phone is so much better than last year’s version.

Hence, if a new phone is being advertised with, say, an extra camera, a retinal scanner, and a biometric fingerprint sensor, you need to sit back and determine if you will use all of those extra “cutting edge” features.

That is to say, are they just novelties that will wear off in a week or two, or do you think you will make use of them on a routine basis? Remember that all of those extra bells and whistles may sound great on paper, but maybe next to worthless in practice.

Also, extra features and hardware perks will mean that the price of the new phone will be much higher than an older model. You should only upgrade your phone if you truly believe that you will make good and frequent use of all of the extra features.

How long will I use my new phone?

Many of the new smartphones that are sold today by Samsung, LG, Huawei, Sony, and Apple are very expensive, with some costing upwards of a thousand dollars. As such, if you are thinking of buying a new phone, you need to determine how long you will use it for.

In the past, people would usually buy a Blackberry and use it for several years, or even more than ten years in some cases. There was less peer pressure to upgrade every year, and phones were also built to last “back in the day.”

Therefore, you should try and resist the urge to upgrade to a new phone if you plan on simply replacing it next year with its successor. This is because not only will you be contributing to the amount of electronic waste that is being generated, but you will also lose several hundred dollars, if not a few thousand dollars, by replacing your phone every year.

We would recommend that you try and keep your current phone for at least four to five years, provided it still works well. Then, upgrade when your provider launches a new promotional offer that is too good not to take.

For example, your provider may launch a new trade-in program where you can exchange your old phone in order to get some store credit. This means if your phone has broken down after four or five years of use, you can help do your part for the environment by recycling it instead of throwing it in the garbage. Not only that, but you can also get a rebate that can be put towards your new replacement phone.

Should I invest my money in something more important?

This is perhaps the most important question of all. Times are tough, and the job market is volatile, with layoffs and downsizing becoming the norm in many industries. Hence, you need to ask yourself, “Would it be better to save my money for a rainy day?”

Perhaps the money should be invested in your child’s college education, or maybe it should be invested in the stock market or towards a new auto purchase? Given the fact that there are literally hundreds of phones to choose from, perhaps you should save up until a revolutionary new phone is launched that is so head and shoulders above your current model that you’d be foolish not to upgrade.

Final Thoughts

Impulse shopping is something that even the best of us will give in to from time to time, but we hope that you will be able to resist the urge to buy a new phone every year. It seems that every year Apple, Samsung, and other multinational conglomerates launch a new phone with just a few new features and the same basic design.

Thus, we would suggest that you hang onto your current model until it breaks down, or only upgrade it if a new innovative model comes out that has a plethora of incredible features that will truly enhance your user experience. If you would like to recycle your old phone, then please visit eCycle Solutions on our website or give us a call at 888-945-2611.