I know one of the biggest new frontiers that advertisers are trying to conquer is the mobile phone audience. But have you ever signed up for one of those opportunities? You know, where you text a particular message to a particular number. Only to then start receiving an obscene amount of texts with, uh, earth-shattering information.
Sure, as a society, we’re more attached to our cellphones than we ever were with bottled water. I mean, seems to me that fewer people are carrying water with them everywhere they go, mostly because it’s like, too hard to carry a cellphone AND a bottle of water AND that no foam, extra hot, sugar free, nonfat half-caf, wet capp. (Note to self: perhaps there’s a new career opportunity. I could become a water sherpa.)
Of course, had I not been texting while driving the other day (just kidding!), I could have used my smartphone of choice (yeah! Palm Pre!) to snap a picture of the two over-privileged preteens who were sitting on horseback texting. I mean, really? Texting? On horseback?
Such a cliché. Or is it that I’m just jealous that they had an actual cell signal?
It’s bad enough that I had to watch a teenage male nearly wreck while trying to bike and text. Doesn’t he realize that he should just wait until he gets his driver’s license and only then try to multitask?
But it’s not just the cellphone. Ipods, or more likely noise-canceling ear buds, are yet another form of preoccupation. I recently had a posting shared with me that talks about how technology is actually causing disconnection, not bringing people together. Granted, every time I pass someone on my walk to the beach, and get no acknowledgement of my smile/eye contact/howdy, my first thought is someone needs to turn the volume on their iPod down. But then I remember…I’m in a part of the country where we don’t interact with other humans on the street.
There’s even a book mentioned in the posting about how there is a surge in the number of people who have started going bowling. Only, they’re not joining leagues. They’re going alone. And probably listening to their iPod as the attempt to master the 7-10 split.
Or maybe they’re listening to the Podcast that explains how to master said split. But, does anyone listen to Podcasts anymore? Or is that also the direction mobile advertising will be going in a few more years? (Yes, I understand mobile apps are where the real money is in regards to cellphones. But still….)
Granted, thanks to things like Twitter and Facebook, these lone bowlers can always maintain some sort of comradery. Only there’s no one to pitch in for that next pitcher of beer.