Day 1: Did I just join a cult?
“Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice.”
Ironically I interpreted Jobs' quote as a way of telling me not to get an iPhone. Because I thought that it would somehow drown out my inner voice. But then I realized that not buying one because ”everyone” else has them is also a way of being a conformist, in a nonconformist way.
So I'm starting this year and this project with my first smartphone ever. And now I’m excited to explore the world of apps. Ten years or so later than everyone else...
But I think some of my friends are even more excited. Actually one of my best friends have spent almost twenty years telling me to buy a new phone, a new stereo etc. Yes, I once had a CD-player where you had to use a knife to pull out the tray manually. But it was cheap and I bought it from a German guy who wore a tuxedo at least once a week, had the walls of his student room covered in tin foil and claimed to own Northern Europe’s second largest collection of Björk records (Niko, if you read this, it would be great to hear from you!).
And once I didn’t have a fridge for half a year. Which worked pretty well where I live as long as it was winter, but when summer came I just had to do without dairy products. And meat. And well, most food.
And I still don’t have a TV. Or a stereo. Or a car. It’ll probably be easier to mention the gadgets that I actually own.
And I don’t really know where this Luddism light comes from. I’m not against technological development per se. I’ve got a master’s degree in computer science so I’m not a complete technological analphabet (even though I did most of my master's project with pen and paper).
I guess it’s a combination of 1) don’t wanting to spend too much money on things I don’t really care a lot about rather than, say, travelling 2) not wanting to do things because people tell me to; I think each time someone told me to get a smartphone they postponed the decision by a month and 3) that I really think people spend too much time with their phones rather than talking to each other. I always hated having dinner with someone who was looking at his phone. Especially since I didn't have one to look at.
So it’ll be interesting to see if I can use mine as a way of connecting with people rather than the opposite. And apparently these things are addictive, I’m already thinking of the wireless speakers I just have to have…