Neophilia: obsession with technological novelties
"That technological brand has released a new version of its mobile? I want it, and I do not care if my current mobile phone only has a few months or that the news do not be so bad, it has to be mine. "Surely that attitude it's not strange to you: you may know more than one person 'crazy about technology' who is always aware of the latest technologies and, of course, wants them (or has them, according to their economic level). Although this is not a disease, it has a name and begins to be studied: neofilia.
Those people able to spend hours in front of a store door to be the first to have the latest fashion mobile model are the neophytes technological, people obsessed with always buying the newest in new technologies that are, in turn, the perfect target of brands.
Neophilia, an obsession that can be sickly
"Neophiles have a sickly obsession with what is new," explains the professor of Economics and Business at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC) Neus Soler, who says that they are buyers "very loyal to the brand they suffer from. a constant need for change".
The fascination with the new is not something of the last times. Moreover, the term 'neofilia' was first described in 1962 and had already been experienced before: after all, that 'wanting the new' has been one of the driving forces of the consumer society and, in some cases , "a source of unhappiness for those who mortgage their welfare through the constant acquisition of new consumer products".
Of course, it's not about psychological pathology. In fact, as they explain in the blog of Consumer Psychology, "in psychology there is no such syndrome, moreover, a philia does not have to be pathological, it simply implies attraction to something in particular, despite the fact that society judges to those who come out of uniformity, so there are some philias more accepted than others ".
Albert Vinyals, doctor in consumer psychology and professor at ESCODI and the UAB, makes it clear in a report in La Vanguardia: "a philia does not have to be something bad". That is, although it is true that it is a excessive tendency to have the new thing, it has nothing to do with compulsive buying disorder, which is a psychological disorder in which there is an addiction (in this case, to purchases).
Fascination for the new: the profile of the neophyte
According to the expert from the Catalan university, the neophyte's profile is that of "leaders of opinion, technological prescribers, with a very critical spirit that they also share publicly, which marks the success of the product. "Generally they are men from among 30 and 40 years with a medium-high purchasing power and a lot of knowledge of the product they want to acquire.
And what makes a person want to always have the newest? From the UOC explain that marketing has much of the 'guilt':' includes in the purchase decision and, at the same time, generates new needs, "says Soler, who mentions an important point here:" consumption contributes Social prestige and, therefore, the consumer demands that the brands cover it ".
In other words, many times it is not so much the programmed obsolescence of the products but the perceived obsolescence, as Vinyals explains: "You perceive that a product has gone out of fashion: you have a pair of bell-bottoms but now you wear a cigarette, or you have the iPhone 6 but there comes a time when 7 appears", exemplified.
"The market is continually telling us that you need to have the last product that has come out, which is better than the previous one, and it also suggests that we can be happy consuming", says the doctor, which explains why the fact of consuming objects is much more than covering a physical reality:" There are products that help us create our identity, "he says.
Does my teenage son have neofilia?
Although the profile is that of an adult, probably many of the characteristics described have reminded your son (or daughter) Teen: he wants the last mobile, last year's trousers no longer serve him because he has gone out of fashion and needs 'imperiously' that new object that has seen a classmate. Do not worry: first, because as explained, neophilia is not a disease or pathology and, second, because it is adolescent: it is completely normal to want to have the new and to be fashionable.
In this case, a good education in values and at work and the responsibility will be more than enough for your child to know exactly what can be bought, what can not be and what will have to be earned with extra effort.
Damián Montero
