How Steve Jobs Affected My Life

It was late August 1998 when I watched Steve Jobs unveil the original iMac G3. Clad in a bondi blue shell - it was like nothing I had ever seen before. Instantly - I knew I had to have it despite the software limitations of owning a Mac at that time.

I begged my mom until she finally gave in and for the first time in my life I developed a friendship with a machine. Countless hours of my teenage years were spent playing one of the few online multi-player games, Myth II, available for Mac at that time. The Mac gaming community was a small tight knit crew - that despised our Windows using counterparts - and revered Steve Jobs.

Eventually - it was time to head off to college - and I brought with me my shiny new iMac G4 - an alien looking machine, beautifully designed like no other computer. Through college - it too was my companion - drawing onlookers from around my dorm to admire its revolutionary design - as Mac owners were far and few at the time.

Necessity dictated the need for a notebook - so without second though I snapped up a shimmering white iBook G3. Again - this ivory colored contraption brandished with an Apple logo never ceased to draw praise for its unique and beautiful design.

As software advanced - I craved something with more muscle - then Steve Jobs announced the burly Power Mac G5. I remember the excitement upon arrival of this beast of a machine - with its industrialized stainless steel case and futuristic design. It too was my companion as I wasted countless hours playing Tom Clancy games with friends all over the world.

Again - necessity dictated the need for a portable device - and when I saw the sleek MacBook Core 2 Duo - I once again knew that I had to have it. It was my last Apple computer purchase - I still use it to this day.

I guess I'm an Apple hipster in a way - as soon as everyone and their brother owned one - the novelty wore off a bit. But either way these delightful machines - oozing with the creative genius of Steve Jobs - played a big part in my coming of age.

I was choked up a bit when I heard about his passing - he was a father figure of sorts - and he was claimed by the same disease as my old man. Maybe the dude wasn't Gandhi or Jesus - but he touched a lot of lives and changed the way we think and interact with each other - perhaps for the better.

Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Generations Lost

Social Media has connected the world as no other medium before it. Everything we do with our GPS enabled smart phone is tracked, logged, collated, copied, and filed away - and probably fed into some data crunching super computer in order to predict consumer/terrorist behavior.

Prick head Zuckerburg (please don't delete my FB account) has the largest stockpile of personal data ever compiled and you best believe that shit is getting thoroughly mined.  

But what would the Silent Generation say about this obsession with ourselves? Because that's what it boils down to - this Social Media business. It is an obsession with airing our shit out so we can make others feel inferior or gain their sympathy or get them to buy our product or convince them of some cockamamie belief.

I can only speculate but this generation is defined by William Strauss and Neil Howe as an Artist/Adaptive generation born during a crisis, spending its rising adult years in a new high, spending its midlife in an awakening, and spending its old age in an unraveling. They were artistic leaders that have been advocates of fairness and the politics of inclusion, irrepressible in the wake of failure. Most counterculture figures were Silent Generation, including rock singers and individuals such as Ken Kesey, George Carlin, Allen Ginsberg, and Abbie Hoffman.

I suppose you could argue that this ultra high-tech connected society makes the world a better place - and maybe it does. But maybe it also gives nefarious scumbags the ultimate tool to exploit and create chaos. Just sayin - as I tweet this and post it on Facebook and Google+ - ؟