Neophilia

[Jitze]

The disorder of

these times, neophilia

 

Japanese scientists have fingered an enzyme

 

By Heidi Dawley

Jun 18, 2006

 

It sounds like a terrible disease, and dirty too: neophilia. It is neither, actually, but an affliction nonetheless, and one especially common to the bright and overeducated. Moreover, the sufferers seem not to notice, which speaks to its kinship with addiction, to which it is quite similar.

 

You, reader, may have the dread disease, especially if you are reading this on a Blackberry or some such portable device.

 

Neophiliacs are people who love everything new or novel. While most people have some element of this trait in their personality, there are some folks who have an almost unstoppable draw to every whizzy new electronic gizmo. Or maybe they just have to have the latest combination of strappy sandals and hip-hugging jeans.

 

These neophiliacs are, in effect, every marketer