One guy started to complain about why people appear to be racing to build the fastest bullet trains or the tallest buildings or the longest bridges. He said that during his time, around 40 years ago, cars didn't have power doors and windows, power steering, GPS navigation systems, or air-conditioning even. He said that, "Now, I only want a cellphone; something that can enable him to make phone calls, send messages, and check the clock and the date. Just 4 features! I don't even need a camera."
He talked about how he went to the cellphone company where they tell him "we don't have phones like that now." He told them "but that's all that I need!" To which he got the reply, "well, the very basic phone now does all that, plus it has internet access, and games, and a calculator, a camera, and a few other things - and it's all totally free. So, why complain." "It's a waste," he thought. He then went on to ask me about my smartphone. He asked me how many features does my phone have? I was not sure what he meant by it. I just gave him a number he probably wanted to hear: 1000, which is basically the total number of apps I've downloaded ever, not yet deducting the 300 apps I've deleted since. He then asked me, how many of those do I use on a daily basis? 4? "No," I said; "I use around 20." He was a little bit surprised. Okay, he then asked me, of those 1000, how many can I actually use but not necessarily on a daily basis? I said maybe 100. (He was surprised again.) And then of the 900 left, he asked me how many do I actually know how to use? He was again shocked to hear that I know how to use all 900 of them. He wondered how that is so, because he thought I would need to read a manual or guide for each and every one of those "features." So he said, maybe I know how to use 600 of them, so I probably don't know how to use 300 of them. He then concludes that from the $200 or so I spent on that phone, where I can use at most 70% of the "features." Okay, man, whatever. You're entitled to your own opinions. And well, it is difficult to argue with a guy with such very strong opinions.
Anyway, my mistake was to think that a smartphone is a phone. It is not. It is a small computer. It only has one feature: it has an OS. Just like the "traditional" desktop computer, for as long as I have that OS, I can just simply install any number of apps - "features" if you will - on that computer. And I don't just mindlessly install all apps available in the world. I install apps that I can actually use. And you know, the apps these days, they're easy to use. As easy as a VCR. Oh wait, I remember - not everyone even knows how to use all features of a VCR!
And there's the digital divide. You know what, right now, I can't imagine what devices in the future I won't be able to understand how to use myself. I mean, I'm talking here about devices that are totally in a language I understand. VCRs are usually in the language used where they are sold. Phones, too. And smartphones - and computers - you can choose the language as well!
Anyways. My mistake was also to count the total number of apps I downloaded as "features." Well that's the number for me. I'm an app hog. For other smartphone users, it's only around 20 apps, plus they have 1,000 songs and maybe 20 videos on their device. How many features is that, 1,040?
You know what, my smartphone is my mobile internet browser, news reader, weather forecaster, dictionary, translator, book and document reader, primary still and video camera, organizer, TV, radio, and so on. The list goes on. You know how many things I do not need to own anymore because I have this smartphone? I don't need a tablet, a computer in the bedroom, a separate music/video player, a TV, a radio, a camera, a computer, a gaming console, a larger bookshelf, and so on. I have it all in the palm of my hands. How difficult is that to understand.
He also talked about how his son has this iPod with 160Gb capacity which translates to around 112 days of nonstop music. He said he doesn't need that. He asks, who needs that! It was a waste, he said. It was difficult to explain to him that the point of the large capacity is not to listen to all those songs continuously. The point is, you to listen to whatever you actually want to listen to at that time. That's the point. Difficult to comprehend, eh? Of course, being the spoiled brats that we are now because of all this technology is another issue, but it certainly was not his point.
Well that's the thing, it's difficult to explain all this to someone who has an opinion with a very firm foundation dug into the ground, that Australia is evil because they're killing camels and yet they're pointing fingers at Japan who are killing dolphins and whales. So, well, what the heck. To each his own.
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