Consumption and duration contradict each other. Consumer goods do not last. They are marked by decay as their constitutive element, and the cycles of appearance and decay l become ever shorter. The capitalist imperative of growth means that things are produced and consumed with increasing speed. The compulsion to consume is immanent to the system of production. Economic growth depends on the quick uptake and consumption of things. As the economy is organized with growth in mind, it would completely grind to a halt if people suddenly began to take care of things, to protect them against decay and to make sure that they endure. In the consumer society, one forgets how to linger. Consumer goods do not permit a contemplative lingering. They are used up as quickly as possible in order to create space for new products and needs.
Byung-Chul Han, The Scent of Time
