A survey carried out by Tesco mobile amongst 4,000 people puts the iPhone in the top ten of the most important inventions ever launched. Yes, that’s all inventions ever! The iPhone came in at No.8 and the Internet, Computers and Telephones at 4, 5 and 6. Things we in the West find essential like painkillers and flushing toilets were way down.
Now I take such surveys with the proverbial ‘pinch of salt’, but what is interesting is that the iPhone was the only brand name to be mentioned. The silly thing is one could hardly call the iPhone an invention, it is simply another incarnation of something that was already around.
I am not singling out the iPhone for criticism but it seems to me that it represents a perfect example of advertising combined with the mass hysteria of consumerism making people feel that this is the one thing that I have to possess – something that will change my life for good. So, every year the faithful wait expectantly for their saviour, Steve Jobs, to announce the latest incarnation of his device and millions flock to the stores to buy this ‘must have’ product.
For someone like me a smartphone is a Godsend. Being dyslexic means I have something in my pocket that can keep me organised and on track, but would I place it in a list as one of the most important inventions ever? I think not. Surely important inventions are the ones that have the potential to benefit all of humankind and not the few who can make it down to the nearest Apple Store or wherever.
But there is some good news on our list – at least the wheel made it to No.1
