Monday Morning Missive 005: Tools and Toys

Hi <<First Name>>,

Welcome back to my Monday Morning Missive (not even close to the morning this week...). This week I'm talking about a bit more of a general subject - Tools and Toys.

If you have anything to add or any stories of your own - as always, let me know on Twitter! Anyway... lets get to it!

There are two types of object. Toys and tools. Each have their place and their purpose, and there is definitely a subjective spectrum when it comes to where the object lies.

Take these pens for instance. They are both - functionally - the same. They leave ink on paper in shapes that can be deciphered by the human brain. They can be used by children or adults. You don't need to speak a specific language to use them. They can just be picked up and used (as long as you know what a pen actually is.)

However, one will be inconsistent, possibly scratchy, possibly smooth - who knows? The ink might not be of high quality and might spider across the page and it might leak or break if you're not careful. This is a tool. Functional, but not necessarily fun to use.

Then there is pen 2. Machined out of a solid piece of titanium. It uses Mont Blanc ink refills. Flows beautifully, consistant royal blue ink. The ink doesn't drip out or make a mess and it is an absolute joy to use. It is also - exponentially more expensive.

Tools tend to be cheaper than Toys - as their purpose isn't to bring joy or look nice. Their job is to get a task complete. They don't have to be pretty about it, or to the smoothest of their ability, they just need to get it done.

Coffee is a good example, there are two types (in my mind at least). Functional Coffee, and Exquisite, Hand Roasted, Cat Digested, beans from the Lost City Mexican Gold, matured for 15 years in the Sahara Desert or whatever.

The first is for keeping you awake when you've got a deadline. When you've been driving for hours and need to get to your hotel without nodding off and crashing (cheery). It can be a facilitator for meeting up wth friends, and rather than being the focus, being the background to the encounter.

The second can also facilitate conversation, but the conversation being about the flavours within the coffee. The coffee becomes the subject of the conversation rather than the facilitator of it. The taste can change and be crafted for different tastes. Smooth, chocolatey, bitter and harsh, fruity or smokey. It can keep you awake as well, but it's there for you to enjoy rather than slurp down and forget.

(I do actually really enjoy coffee, but it's too easy to make fun of.)

Beer is another - there is standard lager, and then there is craft beer. One serves the purpose of facilitating conversation by it being there. One is the conversation.

Both tools and toys have their places - tools being there to complete a function and toys being there for fun or to bring more joy in the completion of a function.

Over this weekend I got the chance to use an electric bike for the first time. It was super fun, and made cycling a lot easier, however function wise - getting from A to B it was no different at all. Now, it was easier and an argument could be made for the ease of getting there being the tool. Personally as an enhancement of the bicycle and making it a more enjoyable experience, I would argue it was more of a toy.

As I say - it is a subjective spectrum - there are cars that are more "toy like" (sports cars for instance) than functional. (My dream car of a Tesla is more of a toy than my previous favourite the Audi R8 which is a helluva bigger toy than my Peugeot 107 - I am such a car guy...). There are some items that are more "tool like", garden tools for instance - although saying that... some electric tools are pretty cool... Argh! See what I mean?

I think it's worthwhile keeping in mind the type of items you buy. Some items you want to buy because they're fun, but you don't really need them. Sometimes a simpler tool would do the job, you could save some money and not really miss out on any features that you wouldn't really use anyway.

Other times - you're buying a toy to play with and extract joy from it's use. I love that pen from earlier, and I like using it more than your standard biro - but if I just need to quickly jot something down - I'll grab the closest writing implement. It could be a biro, titanium pen, pencil, highlighter - even paintbrush the once.

Knowing what to use and when is something to bear in mind, but not worry about too much. If you enjoy using something because it's fun to use - go for it. Don't spend too much time thinking about things that won't bring you that joy though - just go for the straightforward tool and save time and money.