blah blah blah iPhone blah blah blah.
There’s always something. In elementary school, it was the Walkman. If you didn’t have a Sony Walkman while you strutted down the street in an L.A. Gear jacket and three pairs of multicolored scrunchy socks, you weren’t cool. Then it was laserdisc. Then it was Palm Pilots. Now, it’s the iPhone. The electronic status symbol of the moment.
As a piece of technology, I think the iPhone is sophisticated, elegant and useful, though unreasonably high end, feature-packed and pricey for the general user. I also refuse to own a phone made of glass as I drop my mobile at least twice a day. (When I look for practical design in my personal electronics, reinforced concrete is a plus.) But my reason for hating the iPhone has nothing to do with its design (which is solid) or its functionality (which is impressive).
I hate iPhone culture, if you can call it that. I get having a fun new toy and wanting the world to see it. But while a truly mobile Web is an amazing feat, it should be amazingly low-key. I’ve seen the Internet before. That’s fantastic that you can access it from anywhere now, but I’m not going to scream out “OMFG look it’s maps.google.com!” so don’t bother bragging. Genuine exitement is fine, but I’m not impressed with those just wanting a status symbol. If it meets your needs as a user and you feel it’s worth the hefty price tag, great. If not, don’t bother prattling on about how I should get one. I’m not breaking up with my LG Chocolate because it’s perfect for me.
Those who haven’t become name-dropping showoffs have become brainwashed hermits. While the UI is slick and impressive, people have completely missed the point of it. You’re supposed to be able to do things faster and easier, so in theory you should spend less time sitting there stroking it and staring at it. I was out to dinner with a friend the other night and we didn’t have any conversation at all because he just sat there rubbing the dumb thing and muttering to himself “yesss . . . we lovesss you, my presshhhhusssss . . .”
Text messaging is bad enough, and now it’s getting worse with mobile Web addiction. It creates conversational ADD and enables twits to be rude at the movies, the dinner table, and even during sex. Yes, I know people who have interrupted sex to send a text message. (Don’t believe it happens? Remember the Paris Hilton video?) The iPhone enables a certain segment of the society that doesn’t understand that constantly stroking your tool is NSFW. Something needs to be done about that. I’m thinking tasers and attack drones might do the trick.
If you have an iPhone, good for you. But don’t forget that while the immobile Web is obsolete, so is bad etiquette.
on Jul 17th, 2008 at 11:11 am
i can’t stand people who have their phone out at the movies and on rides at disneyland. for crap’s sake - sit and ENJOY the ride - don’t try and capture the whole freakin’ thing on video using your phone!! they are completely unaware of how distracting and rude it is to other people.
and the iPhone is stupid in that you can’t send pix messages. you HAVE to go online to your email to see a picture. that’s not easier. duh. you spend time having to go to a site and log in.