Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Techno Lust

Apple just released their iPhone. I don't really want one - I think it's too big. (I carry my phone in my pocket.) Also, I can't feature spending $500 on a phone, when I know lots of people here who could live off that amount for about two months.

Time magazine wrote: 'When our tools don't work, we tend to blame ourselves, for being too stupid or not reading the manual or having too-fat fingers. "I think there's almost a belligerence - people are frustrated with their manufactured environment," says [Jonathan] Ive [Apple's product designer]. "We tend to assume the problem is with us, and not with the products we're trying to use." In other words, when our tools are broken, we feel broken. And when somebody fixes one, we feel a tiny bit more whole.'

That summarizes a little of why I fall into techno lust.

Ultimately, however, having a cool well-designed thing isn't going to fix that broken-ness. Only our Creator can.

I have found time and again that the fun of a new thing wears off pretty quickly. Sadly, the cost of the thing is not necessarily proportional to the length of happiness generated by its acquisition.

2 comments:

Mark Tatum said...

awwww now stop making me feel bad for wanting one. Actually it is pretty small - smaller than it appears in the pictures - at least it seemed that way when Steve Jobs was holding it in his hand.

Also, I know that you like to carry a camera wherever you can and this has a built-in 2 megapixel camera. Plus you also carry an iPod when you can and this has one of those too so you would have to add all three of those things together (few other phones have worthwhile cameras yet) to come up with a comparable expenditure and "cost-to-carry." Not to mention the ability to surf the web and get email (do we really want to do those things all the time???).

If I had a job away from home it would be useful....certainly more usable than the options available now.

If more things were designed the way Apple designs their products (with usability first in mind) we would all have more time to enjoy our lives. Imagine a transportation system designed that way....or a home...or your job. You are right that those things won't fix the most important things in our lives - relationships with each other and God - but we might be less stressed out! :-)

Mark

paulmerrill said...

Great comments, guys!

I'll be calling you on my new iPhone - I wish!

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