I’ve just finished reading an article about the release of the new iPhone 4S, and how its target market and investors were quite disappointed about not meeting their futuristic expectations.
I guess at one point they thought the new iPhone would give them the chance to teleport, clone them, or something along those lines.
I, being a proud owner of a super high tech mobile phone set to rule the world - the Nokia C3, don’t actually give a rat’s ass about whether the next best gadget would have the power to give human special powers. Unless maybe if it could cure cancer, or melt body fat in just one sitting - while eating chips. That would be pure awesomeness don’t you think?
But since the new iPhone 4S isn’t anywhere near to doing such things, I say to hell with it? To me it’s just another fancy phone that dictates your place in society and a gateway to invasion of privacy. A gadget that makes life less interesting.
Funny how people find such developments in technology thrilling.
Sure it makes day to day life more convenient. It keeps the world connected. It allows you to log on to facebook any damn time you want, stalk your douchebag of a crush, and all that crap. But to me, it just robs its user of magical moments.
Remember those days when you’d wait for hours on end for that special call and jump to your feet every time you hear the phone ring? Or anxiously check your mail box for that much awaited letter and bug the mailman about it every single day he drops by?
Or days when movies only existed in theaters and VCRs?
Remember how you try to get up so early in the morning just to catch a glimpse of your crush? Or wait for your yearbooks to be released just to get a photograph of him?
Remember the feeling of finally hearing the voice you’ve been waiting for all day at the other end of that telephone line? Or that mini heart attack you get after receiving that special letter? Or that anxiousness to watch the best movie you’ve ever seen, and that feeling of excitement while popping that huge black tape into the player? Remember how your nerves jolt when you make eye contact with your crush after days of real, live, stalking?
I’m sure kids these days won’t know squat about what the hell I’m talking about. And people my age are bound to forget them after their mid-life crises. But for the purpose of remembering, let me just say, those were real good old days.
Life sure wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t hard either. It was, in all sense of the word, exciting.
These days, almost everything seems to be handed on a virtual silver platter. You click and go. You need something, you click and go. You forget something, you click and go. You lose something, you click and go. Click. And go. Until your life revolves around this clickable thing in your hands and makes much less sense.
Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of technology. I mean, a handheld device that, at your slightest touch, can connect you halfway around the world in mere seconds is nothing short of amazing. These things were alien-like the year I was born. How lucky am I to be a witness of its evolution?
I guess, what I’m trying to say, is to take things slow. To live in the moment. The next best thing doesn’t exist. The world is a constant evolution of next-best-things that we tend to forget we’re actually at the center of it all. The best things in life are here. NOW.
Every day that technology evolves is another pound of body fat that we gain. The more it does, the less we do, and the less we work for the things we want in life.
So, as the world screams their disappointments at the latest iPhone 4S, here I sit, trying to get a grip of the moment. The next best thing’s about to arrive, and the next, and the next, and the next. Until they rule over the world and take control of our lives.
The epic movie, Kung Fu Panda, once depicted: The past is history, the future a mystery. But today’s a gift - that’s why it’s called present.
Marvel a little, why don’t you? Breathe.. and live.
