We don't know what we like
We often don't like what we say we like. We come to enjoy things we thought we hated and we are poor at predicting what we will possibly like.
We can't articulate the reasons we prefer one thing over another. We often decide we like something without cause or like something that was subtly suggested.
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Any action that entails a choice also entails a preference, for example, what to read, what to wear. We try to find work we like, entertainment we like, people we like.
Behind every preference is a combination of inputs including reasons, hunches, bodily needs, past experiences, unconscious desires, social pressures, and price point.
- Online marketing strategies have become very sophisticated. The Internet uses a huge amount of data collected from clicks to produce a taste fingerprint for every consumer that uses a Web site or app.
- Customer reviewing is lay expertise and not trustworthy. We often find ourselves identifying with one-star hotheads. We want to know if things go wrong, how bad it will be. High number ratings may reflect "positivity bias."
With the Internet, we do not see reality. We're seeing what the algorithms want us to see. We spend half our days in the digital mall without borders doing work and errands.
Digitalization promises to absorb existing technologies, from paper and vinyl to maps, newspapers, cameras, telephones, and lecture halls. With it comes some loss—the three-dimensionality of certain experiences, e.g., acoustic, theatrical, and the palpable such as a book.
The Internet won't replace everything, and one day something else will replace the Internet. Then we will all be used to it, and we will miss it when it's gone.
If taste were not easily changeable and people only liked what they have always liked, we could never develop a taste for something else,
Two factors that influence our taste are social consensus and familiarity. We need time and help to appreciate a work of art.
Art appreciation develops in the same way as other tastes. One person will comment on liking something, and a consensus builds that it is worth liking. Aesthetic appreciation is then supposed to be learned and shared.
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Our genes, along with culture, curiosity and social instincts shape our tastes. And an overlooked factor that shapes our experience is our expectations.
Taste becomes highly subjective, and the same wine can taste different if labelled as a highly priced one, and can taste generic if labelled as a cheap wine.
While eating out, shopping, or during a donation drive, some of us make choices that we wouldn’t normally make.
Studies on consumer behaviour show that while some would mimic or copy the behaviour of the person they observe, some would choose to do the exact opposite.
In years passed, coffee drinkers didn't know how coffee was produced or brewed. Coffee was cheap, tasted bitter, and was purposed for medicine or fuel. But over the decades, coffee has been elevated to craft level.
Filter or drip coffee can taste smooth and sweet like chocolate or taste fruity. The expansion of flavours is partly due to new roasting techniques. Roasting at relatively low temperatures for a shorter time tends to bring out the flavours of the bean itself and where it was grown.