It's not the "profit motive" that is the problem.
It's insecure people who think they need to buy every silly thing in order to be cool.
About 15 years ago, the wife and I were at this wonderful, isolated hunting lodge on an island. It's one of those places where you truly appreciate the concept of "quiet", and really recognize how noisy civilization is everywhere else. There was a reading room with a fireplace and large picture windows overlooking the harbor below. Our favorite thing to do in the evening after dinner was to start a fire, watch the sunset over the harbor, and then silently read as we cuddled until the late hours in the silence beyond the crackling coming from the fireplace.
One evening, we arrived at the reading room, and our usual seat in front of the fireplace was occupied by this younger couple. Except they weren't enjoying the fire, view or books; They were staring blankly into a handheld television!
The wife and I looked at each other with puzzled expressions, and then located ourselves at another seat in the room. Every so often, we'd turn to look at these kids in a kind of disbelief, with the same thought going through our minds.
Finally, one of them turned and asked, "Are we bothering you?".
Simultaneously, we both said "Welll...". I continued, "Well, what we don't understand is why you'd purposely go to the trouble of travelling half-a-day over the ocean to arrive at a beautiful, secluded, tranquil, and utterly removed-from-civilization location such as this, only to then negate the effort by spending your evening watching television; something you could have easily done at home."
There was an awkward silence beyond the crackling of the embers and the sound of whatever program it was they were watching.
We all went back to our pastimes. A few moments later, the young couple quietly left, and we had our couch by the fire back.
