College students always have to have the latest and greatest technology, no matter what the cost. I know several students that eat ramen almost literally every day and live in cheap apartments, but also have an ipad, and iphone. This type of behavior may not seem to have a reasonable explanation, but in reality it goes back to what I have talked about in many prior posts, the need to be seen to "cool." However, these very same students that seem to value their devices so highly often exhibit another strange behavior. Even though they have spent $600 on an ipad and $200 on an iphone, spending $5 on an app that will make the device much more effective seems to be something that many students refuse to contemplate.
This attitude does not make logical sense, but many students display it nonetheless, for various reasons. One reason is that students convince themselves that they have a burning need for the device that they desire, and that their quality of life will greatly improve if they purchase it. While the students are able to convince themselves that they need the device, they do not feel the same desire for most apps, making them unwilling to buy them. Another reason for this phenomenon is that many students, as I have mentioned in previous posts, have very little money of their own and rely primarily on their parents for support. These students may be able to convince their parents to buy them an ipad for Christmas, but they find it more difficult to convince the same parents to fund the buying of many apps. For these reasons and, I'm sure, others of which I am not aware, many college students possess many expensive devices but are not willing to spend the money to optimize them. This is a strange phenomenon to be sure.
Image Credit: http://www.oc.school.nz/learning/e-learning/
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