In the pre-www days, we relied on magazines and newspapers to provide us with news about upcoming or current gear. The month between each burst of information greatly lengthened the stimulus-desire process. But with the internet, this cycle time is near instantaneous and within minutes or hours of new information being released.
As I've written earlier, the internet has made multiple camera ownership and serial buying the norm. In the old days, a shooter could use a Leica M3 or M6 and a couple of lenses for decades, and never want for anything else. You bought a 'family camera', which was used on holidays and special occasions, and it was often handed down in the family. Hardly anyone had multiple cameras unless they were photographers or rabid enthusiasts.
Rapid advances in technology have made ten years a huge time in the camera world - even three years shows a big jump in capabilities. Only a few years ago, I marveled at the people who had more than two cameras, or a big full frame Canon. Now I have literally dozens of cameras and lenses and think it's 'normal' to have that many.
In about 2005-6, I thought that my ideal camera would be as small as the Canon Powershot S70 and have the image quality of a DSLR. About seven years later, and I use the Ricoh GR, which is smaller than the S70 and better than many current DSLR's for quality.
Around the same time, the Casio Z750 was my pocket camera. 7,2mp, 38mm f2/8 zoom lens, and fully manual controls. I once said to my photography mentor that if Canon (because I loved Canon colour) came out with a black pocket camera with a 28mm f2 lens, excellent video and better image quality than the Fuji F30, that would be my new pocket cam. Canon must have been reading my emails, because a few years later, they released the S90, which fits those criteria. But now I hardly use it because I have cameras with much better image quality and features now.
My desire for new cameras is slowing down, though. For me, the cameras of 2010 and onwards reached a point where they were mostly 'good enough'. The Fuji X100 and Ricoh GXR are still in my bag on a regular basis, even though I'm using the GR and Pana LX7. I think it will be another few generations before Fuji have a camera that trounces the X100. So I'm happy with my big cameras, and occasionally picking up a compact here and there.