Saturday, April 02, 2016

Decadence

It's obvious to anyone who reads both this blog and Instapundit that I also read Instapundit.  A goodly number of my posts have their genesis in something I read there.

So this morning Instapundit had a link to to "Dash buttons" on sale at Amazon.  Not knowing what a Dash button is, I zipped on over there to learn something new.  After all, just the name alone sounds pretty cool!

In case the link changes over time, here's what I saw:

click to enlarge

What are these things?

Turns out, theyre items for the laziest people in the world, or something.  By the time I got to the "what are these things" section of the web page I'd already figured out what they do, but here are the details:

WHAT IS DASH BUTTON?

Amazon Dash Button is a Wi-Fi connected device that reorders your favorite product with the press of a button. Each Dash Button is paired with a product of your choice, which is selected during the set-up process. When you're running low, simply press Dash Button—ensuring you never run out of your essentials again.
That's right.  You don't have to go to Amazon's web site and order, you just push a button!  These devices cost $5 each, and that is credited back to you after you push the button once and create an order.  So in effect they're free.

Ok, so I've come around to the realization that these are kind of cool and very convenient.  I just can't get past the idea, though, that they're decadent, a symbol of an overindulged society.

What do you think?

2 comments:

Ellen K said...

You might want to read my blog. I think we're seeing a culture change from which we may not recover. This button and the selfie stick are indicators of this.
http://sumofallthingsaccording2me.blogspot.com/2016/04/permanent-vs-transient.html

Happy Elf Mom (Christine) said...

I think it's a stupid idea. IMAGINE a toddler getting hold of the dash button and 50 boxes of detergent arriving at one's home.

Whatever happened to the "grocery list" anyway?