This morning I was looking for a reference to back up what I assumed was by now a commonplace, which is that the iPhone is the new cigarette (original credit for this assertion to @wendyrama). Google gave me nothing relevant (neither did Bing or Cuil for that matter, so much for decorrelation). So, for the next person looking for such a reference, here it is.
The iPhone is the new cigarette. That’s it. Simple as that. You can stop reading now if you get it.
For people who smoke, the cigarette is still the cigarette. For people who don’t, the iPhone does almost everything that cigarettes do.
- The iPhone changes your brain chemistry. For better and for worse it makes you feel good and want more (mechanism of action be damned).
- The iPhone gives you an excuse to step outside and fiddle with something when you feel like not working for fifteen minutes.
- The iPhone gives you something to do in boring interstitial situations, like waiting in line at the store, or waiting for the bathroom, or waiting in line for the bathroom at the store.
- The iPhone gives you something to do with your hands in awkward situations.
- In really awkward situations the iPhone gives you a way to check out entirely (granted, that’s a slightly different type of cigarette).
- When you’re using your iPhone in public, some people will think you look sophisticated. Others will think you’re annoying.
Come to think of it, even for people who smoke, the iPhone is the new cigarette. It gives you something to do while smoking.
