Ten years of iPhone

Yes, this is completely unrelated to the usual subjects on this site, but I just wanted to get something out there. Of course I’m late to the party but then again I don’t think what I have to say is that world-shattering.

Ten years ago, Apple started a revolution! OK, they did not invent every single aspect of the smartphone, there were others before the iPhone, but Steve Job’s vision simply allowed it to work in a way that had never been done.

And not only did the smartphone (i- or Android, I don’t care, even Microsoft for all I know) change our lives in a way that has never been done before, in my eyes it introduced us to a whole new mode of life.

Remember before? We has a black and white TV at home, with about 2 or 3 stations that broadcast just around noon and then again from 6 to 10 p.m. when I was young. Later came color TV, more programmes invaded our homes little by little.

And all these years we had a phone at home, tethered by a cord. If you left home, you were off the grid, unreachable! The payphone was king on street corners!

All that has been profoundly changed after the advent of the iPhone!

That flat piece of glass, aluminum, plastic has achieved a dominion over our lives to a point that it seems to have become absolutely indispensable.

Of course it is a big help in everyday life. An emergency, I can be reached anywhere. Need to find the best bus connection, here you go! Any information is at our fingertips.

But that gadget keeps us on a short leash! We have become accustomed to it’s presence to a point where the slightest beep, the faintest vibration makes us grab the machine and check if there’s any message. And while we’re at it, we check Facebook, then Instagram and ….. hey presto half an hour is gone!

Magic! A device that makes time disappear!

Mind you, it’s not the iPhone’s fault in itself. It’s us who instal all those social network apps that steal time. It’s us who maniacally stare at the thing for hours. The iPhone and it’s cousins have take over our lives!

I swear that I try hard, very hard to get away from it sometimes but it’s tough. I hate nothing more when I am reading, at home, on the bus home than the feel of an incoming message vibrating in my pocket. I am distracted from my book, try to keep reading but that message might be important, no? Normally it’s not! And in the end I invariably check and lose time…

How did I ever do before my first iPhone, a 3GS? Hard to even remember! Hard to imagine going back!

OK, I might turn it off, leave it at home at least a day a week… all that has crossed my mind, but it’s so damn convenient…

The saddest effect that the iPhone has produced in my eyes is that people don’t look up any more! We have our eyes glued to the glass and never look up! Do we still see our surroundings? I fear not! We endanger ourselves by being distracted and being connected to the whole world we don’t realize and more that there’s people around us.

So what does that leave? Congratulation to the iPhone and many more iterations (but keep the small 4″ form factor too please, Apple) and perhaps one day I’ll find the right way to limit it’s footprint in my life – All a question of discipline!

And it takes great photos…. 😉