Is that an iphone?

Soon enough its going to be a foregone conclusion that the purchase of an iphone over most other competing brands is a no brainer. Once the price drops into the $200 range, I believe we can kiss the term "cell phone" goodbye. Lord knows when my current contract fizzles out in a few months I'll be purchasing.

Since its release last June, we've seen the birth pains of another piece of technology's particular etiquette set. Summer 2008 you heard a lot of "Is that an iphone?" conversations spark up as people pulled their soon to be obsolete 8GB $600 beauties out of their bags at restaurants and bars. Now you could check your email and log in to facebook as your friend relays another time consuming story about their sister's recent breast cancer battle. Maybe the trend will level out, similar to how cell phone usage in the early 00s seemed to be blaring from street corners and was eventually muted by the rise of texting. But at what cost? As our communication lines have become more linear, we've become impatient, bored, and uncomfotable with the presence of random human interaction in our midst, incapable of enjoying the challenge of conversation because we are flexing that intellectual muscle less and less. That atrophy is passed off as a matter of control and choice, as if tine tuning our receptors is going to keep the riff raff out of our head space.

Last night I attended a party a friend had at an average lower Manhattan bar. I made note of a few observations from the front line. First theres the Domino Effect. You know the drill for the iphone wielder. Arrive at social gathering. Place device on the surface in front of your physical being. Begin checking Iphone for communiques at 2 minute intervals, depending on if the conversation is about you or not. If it is not directly about you, more frequent intervals are permitted. Within moments the other iphones appear on the table, followed by blackberries, and finally, the more pedestrian verizon and sprint cell phones, looking like stale prunes next to their superiors. Then begins the iphone as conversation piece phenomena. Could anything be more boring? "Is that an iphone?" YES IT IS. And I bet you've got some photos of your rat dog in a stupid outfit on it as well. Then comes the pop culture knowledge dispersal. We are now only as smart as our WIFI connection is fast. What was that Fred Savage/Judge Reinhold movie where they switch bodies? WAIT! I can look it up on my Iphone! Cool! The only problem is I am going to stop the conversation for 8 minutes as I peruse which networks I can tap in to, all the while creating a sense of awkwardness and tension as the people around me watch my face transform into a blue lit zombie staring at the floor! Hey look I got a text message from that guy!