Possessed by Consumerism

I try not to subscribe to current technological trends because 1) it's a waste of good money, 2) I don't really need it, and 3) I don't want to be any other bloke ostentatiously wielding their branded smartphones around as if they're above everyone else.

Sometimes, however, my self-resolve crumbles against the pressure of technologically keeping up with the rest of the world. I see my friends with their latest touch-screen phones while mine is still stuck in the era of slides and flips. Two years ago when this touch-screen fad started, I didn't really mind having an old-school phone. I mean, a phone only has to be able to call and send text messages, right? So maybe a camera and 3G capability can be useful sometimes, but these are all just vestigial accessories. A phone is still a phone without them.

Samsung G600. My two-year-old phone.

Fast forward (and I mean fast fucking forward) to the present and the definition of a phone five years ago no longer holds weight. A phone that is not WIFI-capable, has no camera, cannot play mp3 music, and does not support faddy applications is no longer a phone---it's a piece of old shit that people use sometimes as decoys when they think they're in a place swarmed with potential thieves. A phone---no, a smartphone, is what a phone should really be today: able to call and text plus3G, camera with some-fancy-name lens, WIFI, a hundred-and-I've-lost-count applications, at least 1 GHz of speed, a fancy-named OS, at least 512 of RAM and 2G of internal storage . . .  the list goes on and on of the much-coveted specifications that hippies and gadget nerds go gaga over.

I think I have lost track of the exact moment when owning gadgets are no longer a question of practicality or portability, when it has become a statement of economic status. When you own the latest iPhone or Xperia, or Lumia or the latest come-what-not, you are rich. Of course you are rich. How the hell can you afford all these things if you weren't? It doesn't matter how you were able to come up with this money or how you could have used that money for more important things--say, food or education---the important thing is you can show-and-tell your friends that you are richer than them (unless of course they have the more expensive brand or model.)

Having said those, you cannot imagine what I felt when I suddenly had a dying urge to buy myself a smartphone. Yes, that was correct. The cynic has relented, which makes me a sad hypocrite. I know, I know---I have chastised myself over and over with the things I wrote above. The thing though is, and it stinks to have to acknowledge it, I'm still human. It's natural for a sane human being to want what others have that he doesn't. It's natural to covet.While I'm not a hardcore gadget/phone enthusiast, I don't want that feeling of being left behind.

See I was waiting for my friends to come at Ayala, and I had been walking aimless for three hours, so I decided to stop and sit on a bench for a while. This lady sits beside me, takes out her smartphone and starts tinkering it. I look at the other person beside me and he was doing the same thing. And I look at my phone and for some reason, I felt really small. There they were playing the latest games, using the latest apps, while I was pathetically browsing through my old messages and restraining myself from looking over at theirs.

At that moment, I realized that I don't want to feel like that ever again. It's one of the worst feelings in the world. So I have decided to get a smartphone while keeping some of my cynic-pride behind. I'm going to get an old smartphone that although doesn't have the latest specs, can still perform side-by-side the latest models. I am getting this:

NTT Docomo P-07c

 Isn't it a beauty? This was released last year July, so the specs are a little outdated, but I think it's perfect! I can afford it anyway, so what the hell. I also just realized that I haven't really bought anything long-lasting with my salary. I've spent it all on food, gimmicks, and groceries. This time I can brag to my friends that I bought this with my own money. Nevermind that I've become a little less strong in my resolve never to join the bandwagon. I'm not itching to get the latest iPhone or the popular brands anyway. I'm going for something that not everyone has. That alone consoles me.