My History With iPhone

Twenty years ago I was using Alcatel as my cellphone. My sister gave it to me because she can't afford to have 3 cellphones in her bag. Nothing fancy, just handy and useful. It rings when somebody calls,  and it can send text messages when I want to. I was just innocent and naive then. I am just a bundle of unaffected simplicity and a persona devoid of artificiality. I am overly trusting, and I am someone who believes the moon is made of cheese because my mother said it was.

Being naive for me then has a more neutral connotation and generally indicates a person who isn't familiar with the way the world works. Naive can sometimes even have a positive slant and means that someone hasn't been jaded by the negative realities of the world like cell phones perhaps.

I started having to grapple with the realities of owning a cellphone when I was invited to judge in a national beauty contest at ABS CBN.  Why I was invited? Well, it is a another story and it needs another page to completely unravel its mystery.

That excursion with Channel 2 was my first brush with showbiz and the modeling world. As they say, showbiz is a world of make-believe, and this part of the world made me believe I was an apple in the basket of oranges. The place was teeming up with plastics and when a famous designer complimented my barong Tagalog, I almost puked in disbelief. I know she was just making an insincere "Chika Chika" ... something to break the ice.

Besides who will say it was a good fit when the barong was only given to me by Philip Salvador. If you see how tall Philip was in his prime ... it is far from a perfect fit and despite the fabric looking expensive I have to admit the barong was bigger for my size.  But that open my eyes, as an outsider looking in, I managed to enter the snake's pit and I came out unscathed.

Then my phone rang, and I was stopped by the ever-vigilant Dr. Oscar Ng. And as he giggled, as he gave me that rude meaningful smile, he asked me if I am really going to bring my Alcatel out in the open. And as friendly advice, he said: "Butch, you are a judge, if you bring that out people will be looking at you ..." I know Dr. Ng meant well, and I know he was just protecting me. but the way he said it was hurtful. Truth hurts really ... whether you said it point-blank or nonchalantly

So the following morning we were off to MOA scouting for a new cell phone that will at least not embarrass me and put a little dignity in my fast deflating ego. I remember that was  2012, I opted for Nokia 9300 ... it was cute rectangular, and kind of futuristic, the kind of gadget used in sci-fi movies like Star Wars or the Return of the Jedi. Dr. Ng did not say anything about my choice, but at least it was more acceptable to be seen in public than my Alcatel. That's all he said, brief ... but blunt. Uuugh!

After several years of my love affair with my Nokia 9300, I came home from vacation in the USA noticing my nephew using a fancy phone. It was Blackberry. I was asking myself why he has a phone like that and me who was earning big bucks and busy building my 7-room house can't afford to buy a phone of that caliber? What is wrong with that picture?

Because of that, I transitioned to Blackberry Curve 9300 (as if it was the right choice) and have my Nokia 9300 buried in oblivion. It was love, at first sight, by the way. It has a mega keyboard, a nice screen, and good features. It comes with a calendar too, a messenger, and well, I could also log on to the internet — connecting to any particular site was another story. But that phone made me feel hip and cool.

Years come and go and so are cell phone features and accessories.  Whatever is the latest in the market now, in 3-5 months it became antiquated and extinct - a total has been. 

Then Apple came by storm and their revolutionary outcry came in too strong, the whole American community became instant converts. You passed by an Apple store and you will see Americans lining a queue just so they can be counted. And this is not hyperbole ... I was just surprised  Americans literally are camping out within the periphery of the Apple store just like what they do when they watch concerts of their favorite stars. Everybody was using iPhone and if you will not go with the tide, you will be washed alone on the shore, making you feel you don't belong.

After 8 months another blitzkrieg campaign comes inviting the whole populace to move up to the next ladder step for a new iPhone - much better, much faster, and more improved. They got us, hostage, by brainwashing us in our emails that you need to upgrade your 7-month-old iPhone to a  new iPhone. 

The strategy? Just bring your new iPhone back and you will just add a few hundred bucks for a newer iPhone and you're good to go. I got swayed again so I decided to join the queue of fools.

It happened again in 2014 when Apple announced more new features come in this package and I was like ... again? But how can I refuse when one of my co-workers was so punctual in changing her gadgets and she flaunted it, advertising it and answering our questions like she was Apple's Ambassador of Goodwill.

The same routine happened in 2016, 2018 and the central focus of their claims and campaigns always center on their technological genius plus features like over the top and over-priced AirPods which started the dawn of my awakening.

I face myself in the mirror and ask myself these questions: Do I really need to upgrade my iPhone?  Am I doing it to please myself ... or I was doing it to compete with others? Besides what is really so bad with my not-so-old Iphones?

I was holding my iPhone10 before me and then ask these very important questions. What is so wrong with this that I need iPhone11  this urgent. How much more advanced does my iPhone need to be? Do I need my iPhone for higher resolution and larger-than-life photos? But I remember I haven't had any photos taken from it in the last five months? 

Was the face and thumb log-ins and password protection that important to me? Was hacking a pressing issue or to put it mildly, do I need a DNA sample STAT as in NOW? And did I buy that iPhone for its crystal clear ring tones?  Well, the way I I look at it ... everything is A-okay.  So why get obsessed and compelled to upgrade it when there is no necessity?

And when will this cycle of mind conditioning end? 

I used to be a Psychiatric Clinical Instructor, and I saw the red flags, the warning signals, and the red light flickering. I should have recognized it from the get-go. But  I allowed myself to be sucked in the process. And seeing the world right now the whole world has Hallmark signs of aberrant behavior that border more on being obsessive-compulsive.

What we see right now is a thin line separating what is important and what is idiocy. The demarcation line has been blurred to the point where people don't understand anymore his priorities and the value of money. We are becoming a battalion of morons marching our way to the precipice of our own destruction.

I find it appalling to see my friends buying their gadgets and compulsively show the ritual on Facebook pages and for what - for vanity, self-esteem, egotism, or just downright arrogance.

So the question really is: Do you really need to pledge to continue all this nonsense? Are you not tired of squandering your blessings to feed your fantasies, insecurities, and your caprices? And have you ever thought that having enough money is NOT FOREVER?

There is nothing improved, new, or better in the next editions of this iPhone series. To top it all, nothing is smart when you are always duped or lured into upgrading something that you feel doesn't need to be.

You Better Listen

 

Then and Now

 

Naka-MOVE ON ka na?

Short Circuit

Karen Davila set the record straight on Sen Imee Marcos's remark about leaving the Philippines if BBM won. Napikon po ba ako? Hindi po.

But in her twit, she said: In victory resist the temptation to gloat. Graciousness is a class act.

Imee Marcos said it was a joke. And she apologized to Karen after the interview.

Joke alright ... but a loaded joke with more meaning and insinuations than it appears to have. And why apologize senator. You seemed to be hell-bent on firing those ammunitions ... so don't give me that apology crap!

My Advice To Karen