Change? Oh Give It a Rest!

I was prompted to write by the new Facebook set up. Why did they need to change it? Nobody seems to like it and I have had to struggle to find out how do simple things again.

Why is change such a holy cow these days? Everywhere we look we see change.

Now don't get me wrong; some change is good. We don't have little boys forced up chimneys anymore and slavery is illegal in most parts of the world. Nobody could argue that this kind of progress is a bad thing.

But it seems to me that in the modern world we often have change for its own sake rather than as a tool for progress. It was not always so. In the classical world continuity was regarded as a virtue and we have the hoary old cliche of something being tried and tested, Now it seems that every few minutes something somewhere changes and not always for the better.

The words I dread seeing on any food product I like are "new improved recipe". How do they know it has improved? Surely that's for the consumer to judge. Even worse sometimes products just disappear for no apparent reason. Presumably some of them are simply no longer economic but I prefer to think that it is the real evil of capitalism plotting specifically against ME!

Now this last point is either mildly humorous or reveals a dangerous ego on my part. But there is also a serious point. Producers argue that the consumer is king. If they oppose something then it ends. Changing the recipe of Coke is the classic example where consumer pressure forced a reversal of policy. But this happens only rarely. In most cases the change happens. Those of us affected have a wee moan then carry on with life and so the producer wins or at least the consumer loses.

It is argued that change is the driver of innovation and therefore an improved world for us all. There is some truth in this but we need more balance and a realisation that sometimes its better, not least for my psyche, to leave things be.