thought of the day: if a woman ever wants to know what it’s like to be a man, get an iPhone. it’s a swell gadget that is so delightful to handle you’ll want to touch and play with it all the time, take it everywhere you go, and think it impresses everyone you show it to.
I’ve come to understand that the iPhone is something that I will never, ever own. Not by any fault of the device itself because I think it’s a beautiful and amazing bit of technology (plus I’m a diehard lifelong Apple fanboy to boot), but because of its ubiquity here in San Francisco and the methods by which people use it.
Occasionally I’ll hop onto the municipal bus, and it never fails… at least one passenger has one. How do I know? Because anyone who has an iPhone carries it IN their hand and fucks around with the screen incessantly. It doesn’t really matter how thin or lightweight it is for portability, because nobody carries it in their pocket; just the hand. I honestly believe people hold it and dick around just to show other people they have one, yet strangely they are oblivious to everyone and everything around them. That just makes them massive tools more than anything hip or enviable.
A couple years ago I remember reading an article exploring the negative impact iPods were having on society because they isolated and internalised the listening of music when it has always been a social activity. Another reason I plan to steer clear of the iPhone is that it very, very clearly escalates this strange, anti-social behaviour to an entirely new level.
Not only are the finger-flicking, touch screen zombies filling our public transit system, but also malls, restaurants, bars… even birthday parties. Yes, I have witnessed a birthday party devolve not into boys on one half of the room and girls the other, but the iPhone users secede into their own (literally) dark corner to iChat with other iPhonies; maybe each other for all I know. Or touring a chocolate factory, the iPhone users hung around at the back of the group with their faces and fingers planted strictly to their screens doing whatever was more interesting somewhere else.
I could list countless more examples… bottom line is that even for a techy geek like me, I know where to draw the line between life and not living it; that line seems to be the dotted signature portion of an AT&T contract. No thanks. I’ll go about impressing people the old fashioned way… with expensive clothing.
listening to:
A Dense Swarm of Ancient Stars
I Monster