Like clockwork every year, Apple has yet again launched a new series of their much revered mobile devices – The iPhone. The phone by itself is neither awful nor awesome, but the way people are reacting to it made me think, is this innocent and harmless school-boyish wonder or is there something rather disturbing hiding beneath this thin veneer of joy and wonder? The more thought you give to this question, the more you will come to realize that it’s obviously the latter.
iPhones are generally believed to be very reliable devices, which is true to a great extent. They can be used for long periods of time, this is materialized by the fact that there are people out there who still use their old iPhones (4 to 5 years old) with relative ease and comfort. The fact that Apple is still providing security and system updates for these old devices displays a semblance of magnanimity and benevolence that Android users are still longing for. Android compels you to switch devices every two to three years by simply restricting your device’s access to new updates and safety patches which not only reduces the usability of the device but also makes your device more prone to security threats like malware and ransomware. So you might think that it is Android who is the real devil here, forcing users to buy new devices every three years, and you might be partially true. But when we start to look at the macro picture, things become more apparent. Money that could have gone into making your life beautiful ends up going for the evergreen cause of vulgar opulence.
You see, an average Android device would cost you roughly 200 USD or 15,000 INR, whereas a single apple iPhone would make your wallet lighter by around 1200 USD or 1 Lakh INR. So even if an android user switches his device every 6 months for three years straight he would still be paying 10 thousand less as compared to a brand new iPhone every three years. This example becomes exponentially catastrophic when you realize that there’s a growing chunk of the population who buy new iPhones every two years or worse still, they are doing so every single year. I did this calculation in my head while walking to my college and that shows you how simple and quick it is to do the math, no aid from Ankur Warikoo or Microsoft Excel is required for this. Coming to the pressing issue of the day, why do people behave like absolute nutjobs every single time Tim Cook announces a new iPhone?
Now there are two parts to the answer. One is that its social conditioning, Apple ‘fanboys’ have simply grown accustomed to behaving like a fruitcake every September, every year. The second part is a bit philosophical so please bear with me on this one. The primary issue is that we are all looking for something, some sense of meaning in life. Something to live for. We expect that something to calm us down, to fill that deep void within us. For that deep void is very hurtful. Now most people find it tedious and cumbersome to think and analyze and introspect, and that is why those who do think and analyze and introspect are dubbed ‘Know It Alls’ in colloquial parlance. The common critique offered to those who think a lot about all of this is “No one wants to be a ‘Know It All’. Come on man why do you have to think so much all the time, why don’t you become one of us and just do stuff without any thought or rationale behind it? Just have fun, MAN. Don’t be so negative. Don’t be a party-spoiler.”
A mid-range Samsung device can do exactly the same job for ¼th of the price of an average iPhone. This is where cognitive dissonance sets in, why would someone pay four times the price for pretty much the same thing? The answer is Capitalism. A huge feature of capitalism is the differentiation it lends to the utility of objects, the differentiation being – perceived value and intrinsic value. Samsung can only provide you that old boring shtick of intrinsic value. Whereas iPhone sells you a lifestyle, it sells you dopamine, you buy Samsung and you’re just a guy. You buy an iPhone and you’re the busy professional, climbing the stairs of a chartered flight, with a space grey iPhone is his hand, wind blows his curly hair and a wide grin woos you in a way that even George Harrison would feel obliged to the change the lyrics to the famous Beatles song ‘Something’. Apple sells you a dream. Apple sells you a life package. Apple sells you an image. Once you buy their product, you’re an Apple guy, not just any ole’ Joe on the street.
And so in a world where thinking is looked down upon but thoughtless action is revered and normalized, you can expect people to do weird things all the time. Combine this with peer pressure, societal acceptance, credit cards, and a rich daddy and there you have it, a new iPhone every year. This is what daddy earns for. So that daddy’s little princess can buy a new iPhone every year. She used her iPhone 15 for doing primarily 5 things:
· Calling
· Texting (Whatsapp)
· Using Social Media
· Listening to Songs on Spotify
· Clicking Pictures
What is she going to do with her brand new iPhone 16, you ask? The same damn thing. What’s the difference between the two models then? Practically nothing. Rich daddy, expensive phone. STOP ASKING ALL THESE USELESS QUESTIONS. YOU’RE JUST JEALOUS OF THE FACT THAT SHE HAS AN IPHONE AND YOU DON’T. STOP BEING A “KNOW IT ALL”.
Okay man chill, chill. I’ll stop asking all these useless questions. So that’s it. People queue outside the Apple Store in the Bandra Kurla Complex because the deep void within hurts a lot, whilst spirituality and logical reasoning have been relegated to the ‘Know It Alls’ of the society like yours truly.
The given example is still tolerable, given that her rich daddy can afford it. What really hurts is reading an article that tells the tale of a roadside flower-vendor who was practically forced into giving all her money to her jackass son who said that he won’t eat food unless she buys her an iPhone. And this is just one story that came to the fore because of the shock value embedded in it, now think all of the stories that don’t make the headlines. EMI, credits cards, easy loans and a rotten brain is perfect recipe for disaster. The fact that you can buy something with money that you don’t even have is so ridiculous that it would have baffled our ancestors beyond measure, but capitalism has done exactly that. A credit card is nothing but a card that enables you to buy something that your middle-class self would have never been able to afford without it.
So how does one go about filling this void or at least pretending that they’ve filled the void for a week, the new iPhone it is.
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