The first person I ever met who was a violent anti-smartphone case was my boss in an old startup job.
"That," he said and clamped his thin iPhone between thumb and index finger, "has required hours of effort.the head.
Most employees followed his example and bravely wore their phones when they were unpacked. I was a stop.A rubber-ass rod. Annex of their increasing costs and their fragile nature (iPhones have risen by 15 percent since 2016, and the Americans gave more than $ 3 billion for broken screens last year) must almost be protected in such a shell, so that they can withstand everyday life and suitability for everyday use. The hiring of my boss seemed so counterintuitive. For weights, he acted against his best interests that I do not quite understand, and I am also not sure whether he did it.
The Americans spent more than $ 3 billion for broken screens last year
My boss was not a pioneer. Casive crusaders are everywhere, and shortly after our conversation I discovered them everywhere. It is like at this moment when you learn a new word and then read it all the time.Cell phones without a shell. The iPhone of the Reddit Group had threads in which the fans were asked to leave out the "shitty plastic shell". And at The Verge, Nick took place, despite possible repairs in hundreds of dollars and the debate, whether housingIt is stupid to keep your iPhone X naked: "It feels like a crime to put a cover on the most beautiful smartphone that Apple has ever made."
Why do these super fans invite so much risk of such a defenseless object? "You don't want to dirty the beautiful hardware," says Leander Kahney, editor of Cult of Mac and author of a current biography of Apple boss Tim Cook.kahney notes thatEven Jony Ive, Apple's Chief Design Officer, seemed to resist. "[When I met him] he had a case on his cell phone and somehow apologized for it. I think he must have preferred to be in trouble to go in.. "
Cliff Kuang, a UX designer and author of the upcoming book User Friendly, sees a separation between marketing and design. "You have marketing and user-friendliness that are now in contradiction to each other," he says., whereby current models like a ballerina whirling on the top. For many consumers, this is the vision to hold on, even if the object collects scratches in their pocket. “We tend to want this idealized version of a product without absolutelyTo think about what it will be like to live with it every day, ”says Kuang.
An obvious question: Why not develop a telephone that does not need a separate shell? A cynic would argue that the telephone manufacturers are not interested in this solution. Finally, a fallen housing telephone is only a future sale, a variation of the frequently theorized planned obsolescence.Kit Yarrow, consumption psychologist and author of Decoding the New Consumer Mind, represents this point of view. Removes away from being a conspiracy theory, she says, urges the tech industry to improve our telephones every few years, and they are all too happyReady to shorten the cycle. You find that, if you bring your products to the Apple Store, if you bring your products to the Apple Store, you do not expect you to keep laptops or telephones for more than three or four years.
"You don't want to dirty the beautiful hardware"
But Kahney does not believe that Apple or other manufacturers are pulling these “cynical games”. “Since they keep it longer, the profit is larger,” he says and explains: “Since Apple now has trade-in programs, there is a huge secondary marketfor telephones. "
Kuang believes that companies simply react to our own wishes for something slimmer, tender products. "They don't design in a vacuum," he says. "I can guarantee that there have been versions and concepts that were more durable." ButYou have not made it onto the market, he emphasizes because models that are not "really beautiful" are much more difficult to sell.
In many ways, the arch of the cell phone design has bent towards the increasingly fragile. Kaahey reflects on the first iPhone: "It was definitely a hard device, but over the years they have tried to make it slimmer and slimmer and sexier."He realizes that the iPhone X was "like a slippery piece of soap. First day when I had it, it naturally flew out of my hands and on the concrete."
You have to ask yourself where the desire for increasingly thinner. If you listen to the vocabulary of fanatics without any circumstances, you could believe that you are talking about something completely different."And even" fat ". Housosis are" slim "," slim "," thin "and" naked ". It is almost the language of a before and after display for a 30-day diet plan.Telefone? Kahney laughs at this question, but says that the hardware was always fetishized as a "sexy" and "suggestive".
With this thought, Yarrow goes one step further. "For many people, the phone is really an expansion of herself," she says, even up to the point that it connects its dimensions with her idealized body.Keep in mind that companies are already using this body identification for their advertising. Just look at Dove's advertising campaign, in which a variety of bottles have been released that are supposed to represent different women's bodies that have come across criticism because nobody as an impactWant to see round bottle. Slimness also has class connotations.
Whatever our desire for a wafer -thin telephone, it makes the act of lack of cuffs all the more daring. Like it puts it, you not only pay for the possible repairs, but also with the increased attention and attention that this unprotected object requires.
This type of cumbersome handling feels for a Fabergé egg or Dutch top collar from the 16. but this is not an inaccurate comparison when it comes to housing phones.
The Dutch top crawls-huge fold accordions that wore the upper class around the neck-it was about not only showing the expensive tip, but also the hours that you needed to put together the collar together, to iron and to iron and toStrengthen. (As my boss said about the slimness of his phone: It was "hours of effort".) The humps were impractical, handicapped the movement, but were also the ultimate status symbol of their time. And the people are ready to endure a lot to endure statusto communicate.
"For many people, the phone is really an expansion of themselves"
Nowadays, status symbols can be difficult to find, especially in the technology industry. Large, conspicuous wealth are frowned upon in the silicon valley. A place where jeans and hoodies are considered to be working clothes, as a quora thread statesRetirement is communicated in a quieter, more subtle way: investments, philanthropy, but the latest gadgets still make the list because they attract attention and lend the seal of approval, especially if they are thrown around and treated casually.
According to a study by Research Now and Match.com, 86 percent of women assess dates with a jumped telephone display negative. This could also be the opposite - people admire a person who shows that they clearly use the means with their four -digit, unambiguous phoneHas to play sidewalk roulette. Yarrow sees the houselose phone as a way to signal its prosperity quietly.Is that not a big deal because I can spend on a new screen. "Or as a commentator said at The Verge:" If I earn $ 500,000 a year, I could treat myself to a naked iPhone X. "
There was a time when the mere owning of a smartphone was a deadfure sign of available income, but no longer. "There is more smartphones than people in the USA," says Kuang.
The mania around telephones has also subsided. "The innovation has slowed down around them," says Yarrow. She will not find a queue for a new phone with a slightly better camera. "I think we have reached a turning point where IDon't know what else we could do with a phone, ”she says.
"If I earn 500,000 a year, I could treat myself to a naked iPhone X"
All of this could be the reason why we have reached a point on which the ruthless handling of your phone and rejection of a case are the ultimate reference to remedies. This can of course change, because status symbols are always in the flow.The fact that huge honking sneakers have come into fashion, for example, who says that huge honking cell phone covers won't be the next?
Kuang presents another idea where we are going. Ins view of the urge to use the wellness of pulling the plug, he says: "The greatest luxury in the world is currently to be the person who does not need a telephone." In this scenario, technology becomes technologysomeone else delegates. "Super important people, when they go to their office, it is flawless. There is nothing but a sheet of paper and a pen on the desk," he says. The message here: "I am too important to get things tooUse. I just make decisions. "
In other words, today's status symbol can pull off the shell of your phone. The morning could pull off the phone itself.
Register for the newsletter from The Goods. Discounted a week we will send you the best Goods stories in which we find out what we buy, why we buy it and why it is important.
Will you support VOX's explanatory journalism?
Millions turn to VOX to understand what happens in the news. Our mission has never been as important as at this moment: authorization through understanding. Financial contributions of our readers are an essential part of our resource -intensive work and help us to make our journalism forTo keep everyone free. Please consider today to make a contribution to VOX so that our work remains free for everyone.
