Have people lost the ability for individual thought based on their own needs?

Not entirely but sometimes I got the feeling that even when you think you own your thoughts you can be wrong about it. There's tons of factors influencing us nowadays and especially our buying decisions and there are clever minds orchestrating that.

Regarding smartphones, glad you mentioned about the new fashion of getting the new model every year, I am proud of rocking the Samsung S7 for almost three years. It's the tenth generation yet and I'm still at seven. Proud of myself for not falling this summer for the S10 or the P30 pro. Followed the good old american saying: if it ain't broke don't fix it, or in my case if it ain't broke don't change it.

Have fun in your vacation!