iPhone 3G: Don't believe the hype Jul11 '08

Back when Jim Thome played for the Cleveland Indians, he had a phrase, or a mantra, if you will:

"Don't believe the hype."

I believe he had that abbreviated into "DBTH," and written on his helmet, or something to that effect.

The phrase is one of my favorites, and often comes back to me, as I go through life and make internal decisions on what's really important, and really worth getting hyped up about.

Today the phrase stood out quite apparently, bouncing around in my head as I approached the Apple Store on Michigan Ave in the early morning sunshine.

As I glanced at the hundreds of people waiting outside the store for the 8 AM opening, I realized I was only looking at hype. These people weren't in line for a true need, like when you need food, or need a job. They were there because of a manufactured inner desire that was strategically given birth by extremely intelligent promotional genius.

The problem with hype is that it's short-lived, and it messes with your head. When you immerse yourself in hype, your normal, rational decision-making processes aren't functioning. Much like "love is blind," so is hype. And similar to love, eventually hype fades. True reality sets in and your affection and passion for whatever the hype was directed towards lessens.

As much as I love "iPhone release days" and the endless Apple hype machine, I still try to base purchases on needs, not hype. I try not to let hype make purchasing decisions for me.

I own an iPhone already. It's only a year old. What God-for-saken reason do I have to buy a brand new one, when there's nothing wrong with the one I have?

Being smart with your money means being able to tell the difference between needs and wants.

Here's to my discipline so far. Let's see how long this theory lasts. Will hype overcome me, or will I remain steadfast in my ideals?

I hate you Apple.

Categories: Apple , Consumerism , iPhone

Add Feedback (view all)

Leave feedback

Feedback

Input format: The editor controls below will assist with Markdown syntax.

Status

Sub-status

Your info

I new that this time around was going to be more of the same. Huge line, no service, no inventory, horrible customer service, etc...AT&T couldn ... Read more.

Don't count Google out, I believe Google will change the game again by competing on price. At the end of the day, iPhone has a lot of features and ... Read more.

matthom is published and produced by Matt Thommes - an independent publishing enthusiast, mobile blogger, content creator, informative writer, web developer from a suburb of Chicago. Never one to conform, Matt intends to promote the effect the web has on our lives, in an effort to intensify, instruct, and clarify all that is happening around us.

Contact Matt

Popular Pages

  1. Fast rounded corners in Photoshop (3954 recent visits)
  2. PHP – passing variables across pages (1485 recent visits)
  3. JavaScript set selected on load (1208 recent visits)
  4. Removing all child nodes from an element (827 recent visits)
  5. iPod songs out of order? (719 recent visits)
  6. Britney - Everytime piano tab (649 recent visits)
  7. Firefox 3 smart address bar: wildcard search (607 recent visits)
  8. MySQL LEFT JOIN syntax (512 recent visits)
  9. Breathe Me - Sia (501 recent visits)
  10. Tumblr: how blogging should be (384 recent visits)

Similar Entries

Stats

48 unique visits since August 2008

Syndicate

Advertisements