“I thought I’d never buy an iPhone, until I did. It was a Monday night and I was looking at my cheap Moto E, and realized I really didn’t like my phone. I got the E months ago because I had just destroyed a very expensive HTC One, and then a Nexus 5, and I felt a sense of regret I didn’t want to feel again,” T.C. Sottek writes for The Verge. “But it was a pleasant evening, so I took a walk to my neighborhood T-Mobile store, asked for an iPhone, and within 10 minutes I was on my way home. It was an impulsive decision, but it was a great decision, because I’m not as sad as I used to be.”
“For a long time, I’ve been a pretty sad person. I still am (and I probably will be for the rest of my life!), but I’ve learned how to deal with it, the same way you might learn how to deal with a chronic pain in your leg,” Sottek writes. “Treating it like a condition to be overcome seems so obvious now, but it wasn’t before, because that’s how depression works: you think it’s the real you (because it is!), and you become skeptical, afraid even, of being happy, as if being happy is inauthentic. It makes you fearful of love. Depression is a devious partner who you can never leave, and who will co-opt your happiness for more suffering, if you let them. And it was so easy for me to let them.
“For a while, I reduced my involvement with technology, and even cut it off completely. But what I was really cutting off was people in my life. I left Facebook because I thought it was making me sad. And parts of it definitely were! There’s a lot of garbage on Facebook. But the really sad part was feeling inadequate, and never involved enough in the lives of people I cared about. Not seeing their lives play out made it easier to feel comfortable in my sadness,” Sottek writes. “I bought an iPhone not because it makes me happy, though it is a beautiful object that I appreciate in many ways. I bought it because my family uses iPhones, and I haven’t been able to participate in their group iMessage conversations on Android. I can be closer to them now in a way I wasn’t before… I want to find people again, and be found. And one small way to do that is with a phone owned by the people I care about.”
Much more in the full article – very highly recommended – here.
MacDailyNews Take: We’re happy to hear that T.C. is feeling better and liking his brand new iPhone’s capabilities!
Perhaps the article’s title should be (instead), “I’m not as sad as I used to be because I bought an iPhone” 🙂
How about “If you want to feel sad, read this article”
grwisher, yes. Happiness in life is based on the relationship with your “device!” I’ll bet my iPhone that Facebook is a critical part of this person’s life for meaning as well. How sad and also makes me wonder if MDN has some of the same prob as it’s considered a “very highly recommended” article?
Good for him to open up and express himself. There may even be a Research kit app that he may be able to participate in for depression.
I bought an Apple Watch and by the end of the day, when I reached my goals of the 15,000 steps, 600 calories burn, I very am happy. 🙂
One step at a time
“I can be closer to them now in a way I wasn’t before, even if that means being locked into Apple’s world for a little while. It’s also not really about the iPhone”.
Jesus! What an attitude. You are not locked in. “Crap” is locked out. As much as possible anyway…..because all of google crap is available on iDevices. You can leave anytime and go back to android. That door is always open.
The hell kind of article was this? If I wanted to read an article about some dude’s depression, I’d write one. Don’t need a tech site to do that.
His family could have gotten Hangouts… Oh my gosh people! Learn, please? For the sake of humankind? I beg of you, o society, get a brain!
Sent from my iPhone
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