A PIED PIPER’S ONE THOUSAND DOLLAR LURE…
(…to expand our existing tribe of zoned out palm-staring zombies).

The apparent human need to have some way of displaying “elite status” has always been one of strongest motivating factors to tweak…when trying to sell something…especially when it’s something new…and stampede folks into believing they have to be the first to acquire the latest gadget as a symbol of having achieved such status.

Marketers of products have always been aware of that factor, and learned how to manipulate it to their advantage. Apple, of course, is no exception, and in fact, is probably the grandmaster of subliminal promotion of “elitism” to peddle its wares. Which may explain in large part why it has been such a business success.

We don’t begrudge its deftness with that skill, yet, it is giving us pause to ponder about whether this latest grand unveiling of a new version of the IPhone is not just a pied-piper’s one-thousand-dollar lure…to expand our existing tribe of zoned out palm-staring zombies cluttering up the byways and streets of our world…and convinced more than ever that having it will somehow provide them with that “elite status.”

Granted, revolutionizing the way we communicate is fine, but how many ways and means do we really need to do so? More importantly, how effective is communication when it becomes reduced to symbolic icons and an alphabet soup of acronyms? Are we not thus retrograding to the hieroglyphics of ancient Egypt, or other similar ideographic forms of expressing ourselves? These are questions we’ll have to leave for others to answer…we don’t really know.

As for us, our phone is anything but “smart” being more of the “dumb” kind. It just quietly rings when someone reaches out to “touch” us…we flip open its lid saying hello…the caller responds…we chat about whatever…say our goodbye’s…push the stop button…and close the lid.

Short of meeting eyeball to eyeball…that’s as communicative as it needs to get.

CENTURION