Android Envy

  Why do I have a cell phone?  To call people and receive calls from people wherever I am.  What else?  So I can send and receive text messages, picture messages and email.  Anything else?  To look up the occasional address, movie time or phone number.  But that's really all I would use it for... right?

  So why then do I suffer from phone envy when all my friends break out their shiny new Android phones?  Maybe it's just that human beings have been programmed to be attracted to shiny things.  Males are most certainly attracted to new and cool "gadgets" which makes looking at the Sky Mall catalogue when we fly all the more dangerous.  The newer the better and the more exclusive, the cooler it is.  Is this just another example of the "in thing?" Is this like middle school when everyone when crazy for Pogs, those milk bottle cap things?  Is it just the cool new thing to have to be accepted in social society derived from some marketing program cooked up in the advertising offices of Madison Ave?  Perhaps.

  There is always that element of "keeping up with the Jones" in todays consumer driven economy.  Sure, one may argue that it's a question of productivity and to be fair, some of my friends use their phones to remain productive while on the go.  But this is the exception to the rule, to be sure.  Why should I pony up the $300 to $500 some smart phones cost?  Why should I pay the extra $25 to $45 it costs to run the mobile connectivity for the internet based programs?