Your new phone still shines, buzzes, opens every app — yet it already feels ordinary.
Arthur Schopenhauer saw desire as a gap: the object promises relief because the gap hurts. Once it arrives, the gap closes. Another want starts forming.
William James added in 1890 that pleasure often depends on contrast, and contrast fades fastest of all.
The first coffee after a sleepless night tastes different from the fourth. Nothing broke; your attention just moved from wanting to comparing.