What I mean by "plasticiness", is cheapness and/or disposable. Plastic, naturally, fits the bill here as it is cheap to produce and to utilize, so much so that is very much disposable.
Yesterday I was at the corner store because I needed pens. I looked at the shelf with office supplies, and nothing was particularly appealing until I found a pack of stainless steel pens with refillable cartridges. The pair was about $5, and I could have nearly 50 cheap pens for that. I bought the steel pens anyway.
I hadn't thought about it much, but subconsiously I think I seek out things that seem more real, and I guess this means they feel less disposable. Metal things simply don't feel like they should be tossed in a landfill.
Society likes things cheap and disposable, though. Nearly everything that can be had cheaply is plastic. Lots of expensive things are too. My question is, how do you feel about plastic? What do you think it says about society? I'm curious to see how many people don't care as long as they get what they want, or if anyone else seeks out less disposable things even at a higher cost.
Plastic products generally don't look as good, so I will occasionally buy the item made of a more expensive material. For stuff like bags, containers, and beverages though, I highly prefer plastics. For more expensive items, you have to consider the durability and the appearance more.
I like that plastic seems so disposable, but a lot of products generate too much waste due to the easy and cheap production.
Plastic is fine but metal is better. The latter has more weight, thus feels more solid and obviously less cheap, so you feel less cheap by using, let's say, metal pens rather than plastic.
I'll really only buy a plastic product over a metal one if I know I'm going to be careless with it. What's twenty cents?
Oh, Miso, you said you work in retail, right? I do, too. Plastic pens are the best. Pens get stolen and lost all the time in our field!
As for personal use, I'd say I'm in between. I'm not a sixty-dollar-pen kind of person. I'm okay with spending just ten bucks on a pack of metal pens.
In terms of pens, the cheap plastic ones are a bit uncomfortable, I use the "middle class" pens when I can. In terms of just about everything else, I try to judge whether or not I'm going to use it a lot, for how long, and what for. I try to stay away from overly wasteful things in general, but I'd be lying if I say I never get the cheap stuff.
I lose my plastic pens all the time, and it makes me mad. I just like how cheap it is and the quanity you get. Why need a metal pen?
I avoid plastic when possible. If I do use plastic products, I'll re-use them if I can (ziploc bags are washed out, grocery bags are used as garbage bags, etc). I have a few plastic pens but mainly use a little higher quality if they aren't insanely expensive.
I go through pens like crazy. Plastic is just fine for me.
Plastic is cool with me. If there was no plastic society would not be where it is today.
Plastic pens are neat. I lose them all the damn time, so it's nice to have 10+ backups. But I'll never put a disposable plastic fork or spoon in my mouth without making some kind of disgusted kitty face. You know, like when cats eat something they don't like. I always imagine some kind of sea of synthetic particles entering my mouth every time I take a bite! Nasty really!