COLUMN: iPhone 5 craze: necessary or excessive?
I am Sarah Mackeben and I was one of the crazy people that stayed up until 2 a.m. to get the iPhone 5. Now before you judge me too quickly, I stayed up just to make sure I could receive the iPhone 5 in the mail on the earliest day possible.
Less than a year ago, Apple released the iPhone 4S. Despite that, millions of people, like me, have decided to upgrade to the recently-released iPhone 5.
As I hoped, the iPhone 5 was in my hands on Sept. 21 and it is newer, shinier and more tricked-out than the iPhone 4 I have been using for the past couple of years. But at the same time, I feel a little disappointed in myself. Did I really lose out on a good night’s sleep just to buy a cellphone when the one I had was already good enough?
Of course I did—that is the culture. Americans are obsessed with having the latest and greatest. We are perfectly willing to drop hundreds of dollars on the fanciest cellphones, trendiest clothes and the most popular beauty products. Give it a month and we will want something else, something that we have never seen before and that nobody else has gotten yet. Once again, we will spend to stay on top of the cycle.
Even something as simple as books have been caught up in the cycle we have created. When ink to paper was no longer good enough, Amazon came out with the Kindle and everything changed.
Now we have a Kindle that simply lets you read books, a Kindle Fire that lets you surf the Internet and play games and an even bigger version of the Kindle Fire because bigger sells. Although the Kindle, and similar e-readers, allow us to enjoy literature (or Twilight) without cutting down trees, the initial concept of electronically reading is falling quickly to the wayside in order to keep up with new consumer demands.
Next time I am wonde why somebody hasn’t found a way to make computers run on solar energy or create more efficient technology for the classroom, I am going to remember how many of our technological minds are caught up in cellphone advancements. With all of the business it brings in, it is no wonder why the focus is there. Until we get our priorities straight and realize that we really don’t need to get multiple new phones a year, I wouldn’t expect to see impressive technology changes in other fields.
Understandably, we keep pushing out new updates to keep sales high and to keep the economy rolling. But at some point you wonder how much is necessary to keep companies in the black and what is just adding more lining to CEOs’ pockets. There needs to be more accurate evaluations about if a newer iPhone is necessary, or if the older model works just fine. As soon as a balance is found between needless consumerism and keeping the economy flowing, Americans will find themselves in a better place.
Reach columnist Sarah Mackeben at [email protected]
