Phony Cameras
If you read my post about cell phones breeding poor telephonic social skills, you'll probably know that I'm not one of these big "cell phone guys."Oh, I have one and I find it extremely useful and, as my life has evolved around it, almost necessary. I think most folks are like that these days. The percentage of anti-cell-phone people who don't see some kind of benefit for them is very low these days; so much lower than even 3 or 4 years ago.
But as useful as it is, I believe it's a tool and, like all tools, you can misuse it. Anyway, I'll stop talking about this now, because I could easily write a lengthy blog entry about piss-poor etiquette and annoying cellular habits... but that's not the specific focus here.
I want to talk about the cameras that come on cell phones. I remember a few years back when those first came out. I though it was the lamest, stupidest thing in the world. Besides that it was bound to be a crappy camera, the typical, pseudo-cool-urban approach they used to market the phones was positively sickening. The commercials would indicate that somehow you're this cool dude who needs to be snapping crappy low-res pictures and wasting your money by firing them off to your other loser friends who have nothing better to do than waste time playing with their cell phones.
Sure enough, a few weeks later I saw a bunch of 13-year-old teenyboppers at Friendly's, fucking around at the table, being obnoxious, taking pictures of each other and giggling like...well, 13-year-old teenyboppers.
I was extremely outspoken about how horrendously stupid those camera phones were.
Flash forward a few years. It was time for me to update my phone. There are useful, practical things a cell phone can do for you (besides making phone calls), such as providing a good, syncable address book to keep you from having to also carry around a PDA for your contacts. And, yes, I actually do have some "contacts"...I'm not just talking about my friends here, but semi-important numbers I should have at hand all the time.
So, I needed to get a phone with certain capabilities as it relates to the world of Apple computers and syncing. And, guess what? All the phones that could do what I needed also came with a camera. I was pissed! I didn't want the camera, and I most certainly didn't want to pay for the feature. I already had a good camera.
Well, after a lot of bitching, I finally just bit the proverbial bullet and got a phone with a camera.
And you know what? For all the cursing I did, I have found the benefit.
Sure, it still is quite possibly the worst digital camera ever made, and I would never knowingly not bring a "real" camera to a picture-taking event because I have the cell phone. But it has come in handy for those times where you're caught without a camera and a good photo opportunity comes up. Not that those moments happen that often, but when they do, you just grab the phone.
From a photographic standpoint, the pictures are horrendous. But from a thymenage perspective, where you're grabbing and documenting a passing moment, they're perfect.
To state it in a less glamorous way: "It's better than nothing."
Is it so much better than nothing that it would be worth carrying around if it were just a camera? No! But since I tend to have my phone with me anyway, where's the harm?
And, I have to admit, on those "waiting and bored" occasions (like waiting at the doctor's office), I enjoy rifling through the pictures and watching the little "slideshow." Just to help keep myself entertained.
I hate to admit it, but I'm even starting to see the benefit to the iPods that display your pictures—which describes all of the new ones being made. You can't buy a non-photo iPod anymore. (My thoughts on the iPod will doubtlessly be the subject of a future blog entry.)
Oh, well. I still don't "play" with the phone and dial pictures to my friends phones. I guess I might if I were 14.
Like I said. It's a tool. Use it right and it can be your friend. Use it incorrectly and it is annoying.
But these cell phone companies are all about wanting you to use it in a "stupid, youthful" capacity. Notice they don't market the phones to fat, old, middle-aged people who are not cool. Everyone seemingly needs a phone because it helps you to be urban chic and young and cool.
posted by Steve @ 2:20 PM
3 Comments:
Personally, I just can't see myself ever getting one. Technology does so little for me. And that's bizarre, given that I'm a sci-fi freak who has spent the last six years working for very technically oriented magazines. But I'm not. I just charged my cell phone today for the first time in two weeks. I had to find it first. Maybe I'm just from the wrong era. The shows I like best are from decades past. The movies I like best are from decades past. The music I like best is from decades past. So having all this technology around me... it just bores me. I think that's why I don't enjoy video games, too.
Blasphemy!
Seriously, I just don't understand people's non-fascination with technology. I will admit, there are some things I like better than others -- for one, I don't really want a phone that does it all. I like having a seperate PDA, phone and MP3 player. But technology in general never fails to capture my attention. Maybe it is because at heart I am a computer nerd, and technology just flows naturally from that.
Rich,
Well, all that about enjoying things from previous decades and having a general disinterest in video games is applicable to me, too. But that has nothing to do with it, as far as I'm concerned. Movies, TV, music is artistic stuff that is a matter of taste and such. Technology is a tool. My love and preference for 70s production and songwriting trends (artistic) doesn't mean I'd prefer to use lawnmowers (a tool) from 1972. One is about what you like, one is about getting the job done. So...I'm not sure that your disinterest in technology is because you're from the wrong era. (Although being from an older era tends to make us more slow to see the worth in some of the technology).
See, I think you're underestimating all this stuff. For starters, you eventually probably won't have a choice but to get a camera phone. Just like you probably can't get a phone now that doesn't have a calculator on it. It will, and to a degree is already starting to, become just a regular feature.
As for the anti-cell phone or anti-technology stance, understand that it is people like you (and me, although not as bad as you) that I am talking about when I say the numbers are dwindling. The fact that you OWN a cellphone is an indication that you're further down this technology thing than you'd think and than you were yesterday. I bet you didn't own a cell phone 4 years ago, even though is was very common then, too, right?
So you charge it once every two weeks and use it less than that... OK. It's gradual. For the first few years I had mine, I only turned it on when I needed to make a call--and I didn't need to make a call that often. I often would go over a month without even so much as turning it on.
But, you know what? The phones & plans become better, cheaper, and offer more as time goes on--and then one day you stop fighting it with "old school" thinking and let the machine work for YOU. All that stuff plays a role. I became a cell phone user not when I got over my stubborn thoughts (which I definitely had), but all the things involved (my need, the price, the flexibility, the ease-of-use, etc.) combined to create a product that it was smarter for me not to resist. The machine started benefiting me more than it was a non-benefit.
I'm halfway between you and possibly a big tech head. I don't indulge in technology simply because I can. That is the "abusing the tool" that I find annoying. But I do beleive that in some ways need really does grow. For example, I am increasingly feeling the itch to have everything mirror each other: my contacts, bookmarks, preferences, and even documents need to be uniform between my 3 computers (home, work, laptop). I want one address book for all my applications AND my phone.
To me, techonolgy when it is USEFUL is indredibly awesome. As long as you find it useful. I don't use calendar programs (eg., iCal) for example. It's more of a headache for me to play around with a little program to keep my dates straight than it is to remember in my head or write them down on the old-fashioned calendar in the kitchen. But for someone who has lots of business appointments (I don't), it may be much more useful.
As important as it is to not embrace everything for the sake of embracing it, I also think that it's important not to resist it because it's boring ol' technology. I mean, it was only I who suffered in college because I was content to use my non-spell-checking Commodore 64 instead of something that was more contemporary for the early 1990s.
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