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GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome

Dan the Beginner

Premium Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2021
Messages
683
Location
Australia
GAS is common in many people, eg photography hobbyists, musicians, ... and I think cubers. Beware!

It can cause potentially huge problems, financially, psychologically, and in other ways that change our behaviour, social relationships, and distract us from the main objective, whether it's music, photography, cubing or whatever. Google and you will find more about this condition.

I'm prompted to raise this, as cubing gear gets more and more expensive, perhaps some sort of image status, and IMHO progressively a waste of time and energy as gear becomes so good and sales needs other things unrelated to actual performance.

The wish to get some advantage in performance to get something new to experiment with, or to brag about, is natural. However it can become a problem when the money and energy spent become excessive, and especially if not being able to own something that is perceived as the latest and greatest causes stress, demotivation or other undesirable outcomes.

Luckily cubes are relatively speaking in general fairly cheap and harmless but that could change.

I myself have bought lots of gear, just about all the top cubes and interesting cubes except those from one particular expensive brand, including smartcubes from 3 brands, and a robot. I am asking myself where this is leading to, even though I can easily afford this, being a retiree. I also wonder how others feel and if younger one need to be aware of the syndrome.
 
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GAS is common in many people, eg photography hobbyists, musicians, ... and I think cubers. Beware!

It can cause potentially huge problems, financially, psychologically, and in other ways that change our behaviour, social relationships, and distract us from the main objective, whether it's music, photography, cubing or whatever. Google and you will find more about this condition.

I'm prompted to raise this, as cubing gear gets more and more expensive, perhaps some sort of image status, and IMHO progressively a waste of time and energy as gear becomes so good and sales needs other things unrelated to actual performance.

The wish to get some advantage in performance to get something new to experiment with, or to brag about, is natural. However it can become a problem when the money and energy spent become excessive, and especially if not being able to own something that is perceived as the latest and greatest causes stress, demotivation or other undesirable outcomes.

Luckily cubes are relatively speaking in general fairly cheap and harmless but that could change.

I myself have bought lots of gear, just about all the top cubes and interesting cubes except those from one particular expensive brand, including smartcubes from 3 brands, and a robot. I am asking myself where this is leading to, even though I can easily afford this, being a retiree. I also wonder how others feel and if younger one need to be aware of the syndrome.
Interesting
This also seems to be the trend of the entire younger generation too, especially in the US
 
As a consumer over many decades, I understand what goes on with commercial products - marketing, packaging and bundling, reviews, salesmen, free samples and other relevant activities. It is nice to note that many cube shops and reviewers have recently expressed concern and also given honesty reviews about some speedcube products and trends. 👏👏👏
 
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