Appreciation of Function vs. Essence (bad Quality)

       In Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, care is a function of Quality, so the more someone gets into the details, the essence of something in attempts to understand and work with it, the more Quality they are living/working with. Pirsig discusses the surface appreciation that people have for most things, an appreciation of their function versus their essence. This is termed exploitation without care, basically consumerism with deliberate, disrespectful ignorance. This is bad Quality, or perhaps just a lack of Quality.
        The book began with the author's exploration of some people's fear of technology, their resistance to knowing anything about it even as they relied on it very heavily. Towards the end of the book, he answers his question, leading into the conclusion of his exploration. Pirig states that technology is corrupted, tainted by the lack of care and Quality of work of the people creating it. The people making it follow rigid scientific structures and appreciate function over essence, working with little true care and creating products that are then consumed and perceived in the same way by the consumers. The appreciation of function versus essence leads to a "stylized" world because things created in this careless way are inherently ugly, and must therefore be "stylized." Modern American culture is  thoroughly "stylized."
         Reading these passages made me consider my own life and the material things that play a large part in it. My computer, my beads, books, pens, notebooks. I came to the conclusion that I truly respect, care for, and display good Quality in using very very few things, and see the value in most solely in how they serve me. Even my precious computer, the machine at which I've spent a solid half of my conscious life, is something I realized I appreciate in a surface manner, for if I truly respected it, I would maintain it way better and know way more about it. Just some thoughts, thanks for reading.