Technology and Psychology
Here’s How They Lost Friendship Because of iOS and Android.
I thought the sky was falling down.
Context to My Funny but Not So Funny Story
To me, a phone is a tool. I would not take it to the point of losing a friend because of a device. Some do. As some of my readers know, my background is in technology. I work with lots of techies in large corporate organizations.
We call each other metalheads. So I am one of them. They are great colleagues, and most of them are friends.
I don’t eat pizza, drink coke during night shifts, or smoke cigarettes every hour in front of the large buildings, but I join them for conversations as a slightly passive smoker.
I participate in many fun activities except eating pizza and drinking excessive sugary soda. Their breakfast after a night shift with chocolate and coke amazes me. If I eat like them, I will not survive long as I am carbs-intolerant.
We collaborate and enjoy a lot of fun times together. It is extra fun at night shifts. They bring their favorite foods and even toys sometimes.
I am fascinated by their toys from StarTrack, Star Wars, X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, Matrix, and more exotic ones that I cannot even remember the names of.
We have great conversations about anything and everything, including the meaning of life. Their favorite number is 42, allegedly representing the universe, as pointed out in Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
However, when discussions relate to technology, things change a bit every now and then. We have different views and sentiments about technology tools.
The way I approach technology is more professional and mature. Even though technology is a passion for me, and I earn my living from it, I still keep a healthy distance to ensure it does not intrude and badly affect my life.
Among them, as usually the oldest team member, I am considered the quietest with no worldly pleasures. They consider me as an ancient and silver-headed techie whose inner child is still active.
Therefore they connect with me easily despite my age. There are not many techies at my age as computers were just beginning in my youth. I was an outlier.
In the earlier years of my life, technology obsession was the primary reason for my chronic pain and 12 other entangled health issues. Obsession with anything is not healthy behavior for our physical and mental health. Thus, my approach to using technology has dramatically changed. My digital intelligence has substantially increased since then. Nowadays, I control technology rather than it controls me.
I thought the sky was falling down.
Some colleagues are different. I am referring to those who take trivial matters personally. They amaze me.
The other day, one of my friends bought a new iPhone. The purpose was to use the new 5G service. Apple iPhone 12 supports it. So 5G and even 6G are hot cakes in our conversations.
All of us want to use the significant benefits of 5G, such as faster download and upload of our files in the network. 5G is an enabler for emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, the Internet of Things, Cloud and Edge Computing, Big Data Analytics, Cybersecurity, Digital Transformation, and Quantum Computing.
Another colleague has a Samsung phone with an Android operating system. He bought it a few months earlier and experienced the 5G benefits. He keeps telling us how great Samsung phones are. He keeps upgrading them every six months.
To me, changing the phone every six months is too frequent. I see it as a waste of money. It takes me a few years to upgrade my phones, and sometimes it takes ages to upgrade them.
Occasionally, I used them until the vendor stopped supporting them. My friends kept teasing me about my archaic phones. My first Nokia phone was almost a pound and endured three years. My next phone was Siemens, which cost me the equivalent of my monthly salary in those days.
I wrote about artificial intelligence in devices within communication mobility and chatbots context. The artificial intelligence of Siri in Apple phones and its equivalent in Android phones like Google Assistant, Bixby, Cortana, and Alexa is of great interest to me.
The psychological aspect of artificial intelligence is a problem too. People attach to robots and their favorite AI tools, as I discussed in multiple articles before. For example, some people fall in love with holograms, and some even consider dating robots. I mentioned this psychological construct in an article within the digisexuality context.
Interestingly, one of our friends who are addicted to the voice and artificial intelligence of Cortana was about to have a heart attack when she read this announcement from Microsoft “As of March 31, 2021, the Cortana content you created–such as reminders and lists–will no longer function in the Cortana mobile app, but can still be accessed through Cortana in Windows. Also, Cortana reminders, lists, and tasks are automatically synced to the Microsoft To-Do app, which you can download to your phone for free.”
Let me get back to the story about these two friends, one with iPhone and the other Samsung phone.
What happened to my colleagues?
The friend with Android called the iPhone “a piece of crap.”
Our colleagues use these types of slang phrases a lot. Hardly anyone gets a notice or gets any offense. They are just filler words and sometimes show affection like a metalhead.
But the discussion was different this time. I felt something was going wrong in my heart. My intuition is usually spot-on in these types of situations.
The friend with the iPhone unusually took offense to the word crap.
They started arguing initially about the technical pros and cons of IoS versus the Android operating system. Both of them created lots of interesting arguments. It was great. I enjoyed the technical aspect of the conversation.
I love learning about extra features in products. I am a vendor-agnostic technology enthusiast. Vendors that provide the best features and more functionality can get my business. I open my wallets to them.
The conversation between these two colleagues turned into a fierce argument. They started arguing stronger by raising their voice to an unbearable volume. I had to close my ears to prevent excessive shouting noises.
Finally, the arguments turned into an insult. Both were insulting each other with derogatory terms and shouting aggressively. I never heard those terms, which I am ashamed to write in my story. Those words start with F, C, D, and B.
I observed some physical reactions in their gestures. The anger became evident. I imagined their activated amygdala and limbic system. They were almost about to punch fight. We intervened and stopped them from attacking each other. But we failed for a moment.
The colleague with the iPhone hit the hand of the other friend with Samsung. The phone dropped on the cement floor. My heart rate increased, and I felt a terrible sensation in my stomach, reminding me of childhood traumas. I thought the phone cracked, but it did not.
Then the friend with Samsung got angry and hit the hand of the friend with the iPhone.
Then, the disaster happened. My traumatic childhood imagination got deepened.
The iPhone screen got broken into pieces. A brand-new phone he waited for four weeks and paid $1200 shattered. This was quite an exciting incident. Not on good terms!
We were all shocked.
These two colleagues broke the moment of dead silence of the scene.
They started swearing at each other and agreed not to talk again in their lifetime.
A friendship disappeared in front of my eyes just because of being a fan of a brand and an operating system.
Some of us were saying, “who cares! It is just a phone”. Obviously, some people care about the brands that they use. Some are passionately attached to their tools and their vendors.
Conclusions
This incident was a good example of the mental, emotional, and psychological effects of technology. To me, a phone is a tool.
I would not take it to a point to lose a friend because of a device. How about you? Are you attached to your smartphone or other gadgets?
Thank you for reading my not-so-funny story and perspectives.
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