What the iPhone Teaches Us About Happiness | Hacker News Reader

What the iPhone Teaches Us About Happiness

trueslant.com

Yes, experiences trump possessions, but...

I almost think the iPhone might be an exception to this generality. I saw a t-shirt on Threadless recently that said "My iPhone has totally changed the way I poop." Or, as I often have said, having an iPhone means never having to be bored. Whenever I'm in line, waiting at the Dr. Office, etc... I have something interesting to read at the tips of my fingers, or a game, music, or whatever.

So perhaps the iPhone takes the edge off of what otherwise might be dull/unpleasant experiences to such an extent that its overall impact on happiness is quite high. I, for one, am still hugely attached to my original 2G and feel lost without it.

I love the feeling of being able to answer just about any (small) question I have at a moment's notice. "I don't think you're right about [x]" in casual conversation has turned into "let's consult the oracle." "Did anyone check the weather?" has turned into "The Weather Channel says..." I definitely feel like that's a quality in my life that's been improved.

The 1st generation phone spoke what is classified as a 2.5 generation wireless protocol. So you have to pick from 1G and 2.5G to describe your device. ;-)

But I agree with you wholeheartedly. I still have the 1st generation phone and, long after the honeymoon ended, the quality of my life remained higher.

I lost my 1st gen iPhone a few weeks ago. Waiting for the 3GS has been quite an agony - I didn't realize I use it so much in my daily activities. To me the iPhone is an interface to the collective wisdom of the internet that is always with me. I feel stupider without it.

To many people the iPhone is just a fashion item. The number one reason I have heard from my friends for not wanting one is that it is so common: everybody has one. Well, obviously some of us don't care about this... what surprised me with the 3GS is that Apple apparently doesn't care too. They didn't change the appearance of the phone at all, even though that would be an easy and cheap way to get the more fashion-oriented users to upgrade. Does anyone has an explanation for this?

"...having an iPhone means never having to be bored..."

Well, get a good one, learn a few "modern" tricks, and you can say the same thing about...the yo-yo!

cf: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WS-jl0RlGLU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYyNY55oM0c , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUuAIuw4LRY

nb: watch out on some of the music w/those vids

Interesting to see the attachment to the physical object:

I love my iPhone. I’d lay down my life for it. If it fell onto the subway tracks, I’d jump in and grab it — ignoring the posted signs and tempting fate to strike me down for my worship of a material good. A bright, shiny, covetable material good.

The iPhone isn't a singular object however, it's an instance of a dataset. The iPhone gets backed up every time you sync. Drop it on the subway tracks and it's no trouble. Plug in a new iPhone and restore from backup and you wouldn't know the difference. Same data. Same icons. Same phone number.

Watching the upgrades to the iPhone 3GS is going to be interesting. It looks the exact same. The software is essentially the same 3.0 on your old iPhone. Will people feel ripped off? Will they place less value on the upgrade?

I think that's why Apple reserved Voice Control for 3GS. There's no legitimate technical reason for it not being on the iPhone 3G.

I recall someone (possibly John Gruber) saying that there's a dedicated DSP chip in the 3G S, which would explain why Voice Control is only in that model.

The phenomenon that people tend to adapt to their material circumstances is generally referred to as "the hedonic treadmill."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hedonic_treadmill

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