When my coworker showed me her original iPhone she told me how revolutionary it was. I told her that I wouldn’t be buying one, and said said with a gleam in her eye “Oh yes you will.”
When it was introduced it was $499 and at that time that was a great deal of money for me. Still is, to be honest. I was struggling just to pay the bills, so buying a luxury phone seemed so far out of my reach that it was a dream. I had a personal cheap flip phone and a company BlackBerry which was terrible. What I didn’t bear in mind was the future, and it came faster than I expected.
The next time that I had to buy a phone in a year or so the iPhone had become the preferred choice of phones. Since I worked in IT and supported end users in addition to other responsibilities, I had to learn how to use an iPhone. So I bought it and didn’t expect much. No this isn’t a testimonial to the iPhone. It is only to show the change in my thinking regarding what is necessary. I only bought it so that I could more easily help others. I didn’t need it, and I certainly didn’t want to pay for it.
Since then I have bought iPhones but strictly speaking, they have been largely unnecessary. I rarely use them as more than a phone. The biggest use I use them for is MFA/2FA which was done before with an RSA device. Honestly, that was easier. I am tempted to go back to a regular non-smartphone. I think smartphones are destroying our sense of reality with their nagging and notifications. I have turned off all my notifications and I put the phone away as much as possible. This is not an iPhone rant. For some people, they can be helpful. However, to me, they seem to be a modern slave leash and I don’t need that.
There is an old quote “Man is born free but is everywhere in chains.” When we feel we need certain things, that is a chain we create for ourselves. As I have gotten older and perhaps a bit wiser, I have questioned what I have needed and the iPhone is not one of them. Yes, I have it but it doesn’t have me. I determine when I pick it up, and I am very liberal with the blocking function. Our time is so precious. Why would we allow companies that only seek to make money access to our time? I determine who I interact with, and the iPhone takes orders from me it doesn’t give them.
Technology is a wonderful thing but you have to draw a line in the sand and say this far and no further. Apologies Quark. I don’t know what is right for you but looking at the chains that I have in my life has made my life wonderful.