Today somebody mentioned those old transistor radios from the 1960s, and how much our relationship with technology has changed since then. But I was struck by quite the opposite thought.
The transistor radio was, first and foremost, a fetish object, a cultural touchstone, a way for a young post-war generation to say “I’m hip, I’m trendy, I’m rock’n’roll.” This was back when rock and roll was much more strongly identified with youthful rebellion.
All you needed to do was carry this slightly expensive yet affordable little box of cutting edge technology in your pocket, and you gained instant street cred. Functionally, the device connected you to the vanguard of communication culture, while its very existence in your pocket connected you to the future.
When considered as a tribal totem, this is exactly the function of today’s iPhone. So from an essentialist perspective, nothing has changed in half a century.
It’s fascinating to think of the cultural statements old technology was making in its day. Thanks for this post.
Eh, form factor and symbol? Not much has changed.
Capabilities? Totally changed.
Definitely. But perhaps that change in capability is mainly due to Moore’s Law. It is an interesting question (perhaps unanswerable) how orthogonal is the axis of form-factor-as-symbol from the axis of Moore’s Law-enabled change in capability.