The more things you have, the more you owned by them

Used to be the case when I was an Apple fan. We owned every Apple stuff as soon as they were out. I am always happy whenever I got the freshest Apple gear.

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However, after a few years using Apple, I always feel disappointed with the products I am using. I forgot that I paid tons of money to Apple. I began to label Apple products as 'overpriced' and 'over-rated' and I began to abandon them.

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When Google products came along, I began to use it. Name something that's not Google and that I'm not using - But that's because Google (and actually, open software operating systems and the likes) offers the most value of money.

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But something strikes me - do I really feel owned by Google, Apple and the likes in the past? Why do we have to be controlled by the whims and fancies of the different tech companies? In the same breath, are we really controlled by the different products that we like so much, that we don't think there are substitutes to them?

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I feel that the more things we own, the more constrained that I feel by them and so, the more we feel 'owned'.