Parents and Moore's Law - Generation Divide with Technology

I'm 22 years old now and I think people in my generation would agree that most of our parents don't really get the whole technology thing. My mom checks her email and what not, but she can barely use Microsoft Office. The one thing she is good at is saving crap and taking real good care of the things she owns. Now, I don't know if those are things that are common with other parents, but I'm gonna try to make a case for why I don't take care of things like my mom does, and why she shouldn't get on my back for it.

So, when my mom was young, her parents saved everything cause they might need that item or whatever sometime in the future and the 25 cents they saved for hording it for 10 years would pay off. Also, they took good care of their stuff because it HAD to last and they weren't going to buy something that wasn't made to last (that would be un-American). My mom grew up on these principles and practiced them too. This is why she has empty cardboard boxes filling up her garage along with glass bottles and containers.

She always has got on me when I haven't taken good care of something. She tells me to always clean stuff and keep it polished and what not. I know that you should take care of things that you want to last, but it's hard these days. Here's the explanation.


Why would I take care of something that I know is going to go out of style or become obsolete in 2 years when I can treat it however I want and it will still last me 5 years? With Moore's Law, I can buy a computer and in 2 years It will be obsolete. I can't sell that machine to anyone and make any good money off it, but I don't want to really throw it away cause I've had it just long enough that I have a personal relationship with it and would hate to see it go. Wait, no, I just don't want to believe the computer I bought two years ago won't be able to run the latest programs.

This got me to thinking that if Moore's Law continues for a long time, hardware and machines will become obsolete in months or even weeks. How will Moore's Law affect the economy?

Whatever the future holds, I know that Moore's Law has taught me to not take good care of my personal property and in turn I should not be lectured to by my mom. She should lecture the technology geeks out there that make my wallet empty with all their developments and upgrades. Hope you read this mom.

*Note that I use Moore's Law to represent technology in general and not just transistor technology as was originally theorized by Moore.