Dom Kureen returns. Guest opinion articles do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication. Ed
The hype surrounding the recent UK releases of the iPhone 5s and 5c models showed the pivotal role that these devices have in contemporary life, where they are as much status symbols as modes of communication.
Living sans cellular is a theoretical impossibility in this era of milk, honey and touch screens. It would be a struggle to disconnect from the network after becoming so deeply entrenched.
Controlling contracts
Telephone companies have the ultimate control – the phones and (usually) lengthy contracts.
Short of breaking into Orange HQ and speaking directly to Stephane Richard and the gang, it’s unlikely that the process of premature ejection will ever be anything other than a drawn out blinking contest.
Experience it in real life goddammit
I can empathise there, but not so much with other aspects of the smart phone generation. It’s difficult not to take umbrage with the filming of music events by people in the crowd, now a synonymous facet of Popular Culture.
People pre-occupied with squinting to make sure they’re getting all the action into the parameters of a tiny screen, whilst the surrounding throng experiences it in living colour. All this in order to post it online later and show envious acquaintances how much fun they had.
“What’s this with the Blackberry all the time?”
A few months ago I was sat beside the stage during a spoken word evening, two of the girls I was with wouldn’t stop Tweeting and texting each other, slamming their mobiles onto the table unceremoniously between each message in a show of sheer disdain towards the performers.
This seems a common discourtesy, it even happens in conversation, as we become slaves to devices. Larry David put it best in Curb Your Enthusiasm: “What’s this with the Blackberry all the time?”
Late adopter
I was quite late to mobile phones, not feeling envious at all of people who had them and enjoying my time off the grid for a few years. It annoyed friends, family and my girlfriend at the time, but there was a visceral sense of freedom about being unavailable.
Inevitably I’ve now succumbed to the allure of having the world and Wikipedia in my pocket, there are such huge benefits that it would be farcical for a scruffy kid from the Isle of Wight to dispute them.
I have stopped short of Siri though; the day I’m too lazy to check a map or jab a touch screen is probably the same one that I have a eulogy read on my behalf.
Image: Nine Matthews Photography under CC BY 2.0
