Praise the iPhone!

Reading about ‘How the iPhone became divine’, an article by Heidi Campbell and Antonio La Pastina, really makes you see how similarly we treat the newest technological innovations and religious faith. At times, we are more motivated by the likes of a new iPhone or computer device, and what it can contribute to our lives, rather than what spirituality and religion can serve us with. Maybe its because new media is a physical thing rather than just serving our inner needs? Maybe it is an issue of being a superficial society that is obsessed with consumerism. Or are we just becoming so manipulated and dependent upon these technologies that without them we think we would be nothing?

Source: Jerry Bowles - Human Capital League at http://www.humancapitalleague.com/Home/8036

The article raises the example of ‘Mac Fandom’ as a religious like cult. Steve Jobs as a Christ figure and Bill Gates as the Devil (pp. 1195). In this situation, Campbell and La Pastina suggest that people are infusing technologies with religious metaphors. While in some situations a fascination with Apple products may simply be an issue of brand loyalty, there are definitely situations when this loyalty becomes more an instance of sacralising Mac devotion.

However, among all these new emerging instances of religious like worship, comes some critiques. Campbell and La Pastina explain that hyping up an item such as the Jesus Phone creates the possibility for critique of its infallibility once limitations to the technology are identified. Positioning these items as ‘God like’ or ‘sacred’ gives it a sort of rhetorical power. While this hype may seem a positive notion for promoting a new product like the iPhone, it also creates new avenues for criticism and setbacks.

Is this a modern situation of a gradual shift towards being technology dependent? Or is this actually an example of devout following of particular technological companies, and what they seek to create? What is likely to happen down the track? Will we realise that our fascination with technology is creeping into every aspect of our lives? Is this necessarily a bad thing? Or part of our human process? We will just have to wait and see what the Gods have in store!

Campbell, Heidi & La Pastina, Antonio (2010). ‘How the iPhone became divine: new media, religion and the intertextual circulation of meaning’, New Media Society