Until I was a freshman in college I had never used an Apple computer. In fact I can only remember seeing one once before, in a display at Sears at our local mall. It was the year that the colorful iMacs came out and they had them displayed like candy with delicious color names like “blueberry” and “tangerine” that made me insanely happy as a 13-year-old. I spent the entire time my parents shopped for a new refrigerator drooling over them and their tiny circular mice. Our computer was a huge beige box with a giant monitor stacked on top of it, I could barely comprehend a computer so awesome!
Six years later I was starting to study graphic design in college and didn’t know how to turn on the skinny white desktop in our Mac Lab. Within a year of learning the ins and outs of working on an Apple I bought one myself and vowed never to go back to PCs again.
Now I'm a designer at a company that only uses Macs, I have a MacBook at home, and my phone - is Android. And not even one of the new fancy Droids that looks like an iPhone, but a first-generation that looks like a dinosaur in comparison. I feel like I'm back in high school with the off-brand Sketchers instead of the real ones. I'm almost temped to write "sent from my iPhone" at the end of my emails just to look cool.
And on top of my cell embarrassment, it seems like everyone I know is getting the new iPhone. Half of the people in my office already have them. My brother and his girlfriend, who are so distant from technology that they don't even have Facebook accounts, got them for Christmas. Now even my mother is talking of getting one. My mother! Obviously I am not at all cool anymore if there is a chance that my mom will be getting the iPhone before me (Sorry, Mom).
It really bothers me that I put so much stock in looking cool and having the newest gadgets. Does my seemingly ancient Droid work fine? Yes. Will I survive without an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? Of course. It's always been a topic of contention with me, materialism, being a graphic designer and a Christian. On the design side, I'm always anxious to play with the new technologies, fresh gadgets and upstart websites. I want to be up on the trends so when a client needs social media advice or wants to build and brand an iPad app I know what I'm talking about. But as a Christian, I know that my existence shouldn't revolve around whatever Apple comes up with next. There is more to life than the stuff I own.
Here's where things get hairy: what if my God-given purpose in life is working with the newest gadgets? Then is it okay to want the latest and greatest stuff? I believe that as a Christian you can have purpose in (almost) any profession, as long as you are doing what you're called to do in the way God wants you to. Maybe you're a Tim Tebow, whose talents in football has led to millions talking about his faith, and uses his money to bless a family every single game. Or maybe you're a Peggy Jo Carpenter, the 90-year-old lady that taught me Sunday school when I was little and now visits elderly shut-ins from her church, some of whom are 20 years younger than her. Or maybe you're skilled in computer programming and helped to build the Bible app that has had over 10 million downloads to date. There are lots of ways to use what you're good at.
That doesn't make it any better that I'm jealous of other people's iPhones.
Six years later I was starting to study graphic design in college and didn’t know how to turn on the skinny white desktop in our Mac Lab. Within a year of learning the ins and outs of working on an Apple I bought one myself and vowed never to go back to PCs again.
Now I'm a designer at a company that only uses Macs, I have a MacBook at home, and my phone - is Android. And not even one of the new fancy Droids that looks like an iPhone, but a first-generation that looks like a dinosaur in comparison. I feel like I'm back in high school with the off-brand Sketchers instead of the real ones. I'm almost temped to write "sent from my iPhone" at the end of my emails just to look cool.
And on top of my cell embarrassment, it seems like everyone I know is getting the new iPhone. Half of the people in my office already have them. My brother and his girlfriend, who are so distant from technology that they don't even have Facebook accounts, got them for Christmas. Now even my mother is talking of getting one. My mother! Obviously I am not at all cool anymore if there is a chance that my mom will be getting the iPhone before me (Sorry, Mom).
It really bothers me that I put so much stock in looking cool and having the newest gadgets. Does my seemingly ancient Droid work fine? Yes. Will I survive without an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch? Of course. It's always been a topic of contention with me, materialism, being a graphic designer and a Christian. On the design side, I'm always anxious to play with the new technologies, fresh gadgets and upstart websites. I want to be up on the trends so when a client needs social media advice or wants to build and brand an iPad app I know what I'm talking about. But as a Christian, I know that my existence shouldn't revolve around whatever Apple comes up with next. There is more to life than the stuff I own.
Here's where things get hairy: what if my God-given purpose in life is working with the newest gadgets? Then is it okay to want the latest and greatest stuff? I believe that as a Christian you can have purpose in (almost) any profession, as long as you are doing what you're called to do in the way God wants you to. Maybe you're a Tim Tebow, whose talents in football has led to millions talking about his faith, and uses his money to bless a family every single game. Or maybe you're a Peggy Jo Carpenter, the 90-year-old lady that taught me Sunday school when I was little and now visits elderly shut-ins from her church, some of whom are 20 years younger than her. Or maybe you're skilled in computer programming and helped to build the Bible app that has had over 10 million downloads to date. There are lots of ways to use what you're good at.
That doesn't make it any better that I'm jealous of other people's iPhones.
