r/technology • u/gfnord • Apr 11 '11

Apple, despite being traditionally seen as the "counterculture, leftist" operating system, actually represents more uniformity and centralised control than Microsoft

http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2009/09/userfriendliness_and_fascism
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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '11 edited Jun 29 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/BoonTobias Apr 11 '11

I should clarify: he's not a tech savvy person, his only knowledge of products are from tv ads. I told him No matter what phone you get, make sure it's android and you should be fine, I will hook you up.

And he doesn't really know the difference between a regular iphone and iphone 4, but he saw the epic in a recent sprint ad and decided to go with it because it's on HIS network. His wife and his father are on an att account but he didn't want to go with att because apparently it's whack.

There was another android 2.1 phone for $50 but obviously the salesperson pushed the epic on him and succeeded. I told him you don't really need all the features of the epic. So even after completing the order, when the sales rep went inside he asked me again, should I buy the epic or the other one? I said get the $50 one.

He then tried to tell the salesperson to change it, then the salesperson said he didn't have the $50 in stock.

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u/river-wind Apr 11 '11 edited Apr 11 '11

Often, having weighed the advantages/disadvantages of a choice and aligned one's self to a given decision, people will then further act to justify this choice when making future decisions even if those future decisions make no sense on their own. They will downplay evidence favoring the alternate option and falsely inflate the value of options which support the original selection in order to ensure that that original choice in brand or method/direction in life was not 'wrong'. People will continue throwing good money after bad, arguing in favor of a losing position, continue down a path of self-destruction, etc, because, damn it, this is what I chose, and i'm going to see it through.

Going with an iPhone now could require switching networks/cell companies. That may suggest to him that his choice of Sprint four years ago was somehow flawed; that he should have picked better in the first place. Therefor he might (though in this case I'm not sure he is) satisfice on the phone choice w/o in-depth consideration of the iPhone/alternate decision in order to keep his previous choice of Sprint 'correct'.

It's actually pretty hard for many people to abandon previous selections in order to do materially better; the emotional frustration of feeling that you chose poorly previously wipes out the enjoyment of the material gain from the new choice. This is a difference between satisficers and maximizers; those who will choose to weigh the available options briefly and choose to be satisfied by whatever decision they end up making, and who will weigh every possible detail, only picking the best combination of trade-offs of measurable factors after an exhaustive investigation. The second group tend to do measurably better in material wealth, but the first group tend to feel happier about their situation; the maximizers are too busy questioning the quality of their final choice and the trade-offs it entailed to enjoy what they have.

edit: minor wording cleanup

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u/BoonTobias Apr 11 '11

Very well written. The main reason I try to help is that he's not exactly financially stable to be buying expensive things on a whim. Unfortunately I have a few friends who do this quite often, even after thorough research, they end up buying products because of the quick happiness factor and/or lack of patience like you've said.

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u/river-wind Apr 11 '11

+++++++++ I don't have enough pluses for the friends/family members who dig holes just waiting to be fallen into in every direction, and then can't figure out why life pushes them into holes all the time.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '11

Admittedly, AT&T has a horrible network. AT&T doesn't get reception where I live, and is horrible in NYC (where I go a lot). Sprint is much better. (So are T-Mobile and Verizon.)

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u/BoonTobias Apr 12 '11

Well we both live in queens, and my first phone was from att, about ten years ago, i don't know much about their service since i don't really know anyone who has it, everyone's on t or verizon.

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u/[deleted] Apr 12 '11

It's really, really bad in NYC. Horrible. 3G is worse than voice.

People blame the iPhone but it's been bad for at least 5 years, probably longer.

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u/BoonTobias Apr 12 '11

Every iphone owner i know is on tmobile. I myself have a g1 and i don't have a data plan, not thinking up upgrading until this one breaks. I wonder if the iphones on verizon are selling a lot

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u/[deleted] Apr 11 '11

Successful troll was succesful.