My philosophy as a kid was, "but all the OTHER KIDS are doing it", "and all the OTHER KIDS have got one". Well, that's far from my mind now. Whenever I buy something I happen to like, I don't much care what others think. I'm curious by nature, so once in awhile, I will buy something everyone seems to be trying merely to see what all the fuss is about (as I did with Vanilla Coke when it first hit the market). Sometimes it just isn't for me. If I am not satisfied, I just don't buy it anymore.

I have the tendency to do the opposite if possible. If something is TOO popular, I get disgusted with it. Why do I want the same damn thing everyone else has?

Everyone at work has a Motorola RAZR; it started out with one, then two, then EVERYONE had it or a clone of it. Yeah, sure, it was cute the first time I saw it (fragile-looking, but cute), but it's not cute enough to spend that kind of money on it, and I'm not going to be one of the three or four people that have pink ones that, when they ring, no one knows whose is whose.

Around 1990 every kid had at least one pair of Air Jordans and a Bo Knows T-shirt and I was no exception.

This was me between the ages of 5 and 15. Everyone had those little buzzers for their bikes - I felt I just had to have one too. Everyone had Roller Derby Street King Sidewalk Shoe Skates - I had to have a pair. Everyone wore their belled jeans so long they drug the ground and, of course, I did too. Even though my mother would usually answer my whining with one of the classic lines from the Parents 101 Handbook (like, If all your friends jumped off a cliff would you jump too?) she caved way more than she didn't. Today I tend to not really care much what everyone is buying because I've developed a much deeper sense of who I am. I'm more into comfort than fashion or fad. I guess that's inevitable with age.

got to agree with PackRat. I probably would have had the I want one too when I was a kid. Not now.I would not get something just because everyone else has one. As a matter of fact sometimes I can be the hold out on this one. I really do not want to be me too kind of buyer.