How Do We Know Something is New

24/05/12 13:05

Lots of information is coming our way every day and something is new to us when we didn’t know about it before. But it is only new to us, not new in general, it was just not know to us that it exists. So, what about the really new things and how do we recognize them? Is something new, because it is different from the old one or because there is so much resistance towards it?
That with the resistance is usually a good sign in identifying the new. When something is really new it changes the way we see the world or the way we live. It means we have to change; we, and we usually resist changing in the first place, because it puts us out of our comfort zone.
Imagine innovations as the car, the plane, the phone, the iPhone and the cloud. Well, there are always early adapters, but the majority needs some time to get over it that an essential part of their life is changing.
How do you feel about the mirror less camera? I feel personally resistance towards it, although I don’t know much about it and haven’t photographed with it. Does my resistance show that this camera is the innovation in photography? I don’t know. For my part I will wait and see, but isn’t this also such a typical behavior when something is new?
Maybe we should change our approach to the new, not adapt to it, rather embrace it and benefit from the change. And it might be the change it causes, that identifies it as new.


Ute Sonnenberg, www.rohoyachui.com