My background is technology. I work with lots of techies, what we call each other metal-heads. They are great colleagues, and most of them are friends.
We collaborate and get fun a lot.
It is extra fun at night shifts. They bring their favourite foods and even toys sometimes. I am fascinated by their toys from StarTrack, Star Wars, X-Men, Spider-Man, Batman, Matrix and more.
I take part in many fun activities except eating pizza and drinking excessive sugary soda. Their breakfast after a night shift with chocolate and coke amazes me. If I eat like them, I will not survive long.
We have great conversations about anything and everything. When discussions relate to technology, things change a bit. We have different views and sentiments about technology.
The way I approach technology is more professional. Even though the technology is a passion for me, and I earn my living from it, I still keep a healthy distance to ensure it does not intrude and badly affect my life.
In the earlier years of my life, technology obsession was the primary reason for my chronic pain. Thus, my approach to using technology dramatically changes. My digital intelligence substantially increased since then. Nowadays, I control technology rather than it controls me.
Some colleagues are different. I am referring to those who take matters to personal.
The other day, one of my friends bought a new iPhone. The purpose was to use the new 5G service. Apple iPhone 12 supports it. 5G is a hot cake in our conversations.
All of us want to use the significant benefits of 5G, such as faster download and uploads of our files in the network. 5G is an enabler for the Internet of Things (IoT). Cognitive Computing, Edge Computing, Digital Twins, Artificial Intelligence, and progress of Blockchain.
Another colleague has a Samsung phone with an Android operating system. He bought it a few months earlier and had already experienced the 5G benefits. He keeps telling us how great Samsung phones are. He keeps upgrading them every six months.
To me, changing the phone every six months is too frequent. I see it as a waste of money. It takes me a few years to upgrade my phones, and sometimes it took ages to upgrade them. Occasionally, I used them until the vendor stopped supporting them. My friends kept teasing me about my archaic phones. My first Nokia phone was almost a pound and last three years. My next phone was Siemens, which cost me an equivalent of my monthly salary in those days.
Let me get back to the story about these two friends, one with iPhone and the other Samsung phone.
What happened to my collegues?
The friend with Android called the iPhone "a piece of crap".
Our colleagues use these types of slangs a lot. Hardly anyone gets a notice or gets any offence. They are just filler words and sometimes show affection.
But the discussion was different this time. I felt something was going wrong.
The friend with the iPhone took offence of the word crap.
They started arguing initially with technical pros and cons of IoS versus the Android operating system. Both of them created lots of interesting arguments. It was great. I was enjoying the technical aspect of the conversation.
I love learning about extra features in products. I am a vendor-agnostic technology enthusiast. Vendors that provide the best features and more functionality can get my business.
The conversation between these two colleagues turned into a fierce argument. They started arguing stronger by raising their voice to an unbearable volume.
Finally, the arguments turned into an insult. Both were insulting each other with derogatory terms and shouting aggressively.
I was observing some physical reactions in their gestures. The anger became evident. They were almost about to punch fight. We intervened and stopped them from attacking each other. But we failed for a moment.
The colleague with the iPhone hit the hand of the other friend with Samsung. The phone dropped on the cement floor. My heart rate increased, and I felt a terrible sensation in my stomach. I thought the phone cracked, but it did not.
Then the friend with Samsung got angry and hit the hand of the friend with the iPhone.
Then, the disaster happened.
The iPhone screen got broken. A brand-new phone he waited for four weeks and paid $1200 shattered. This was quite an exciting incident. Not in good terms!
We all shocked.
These two colleagues broke the moment of dead silence of the scene.
They started swearing each other and agreed not to talk again in their lifetime.
A friendship disappeared in front of my eyes, just because of being a fan of a brand and an operating system.
Some of us were saying "who cares! It is just a phone". Obviously, some people care about the brands that they use. Some are passionately attached to their tools and their vendors.
This incident was a good example of the mental, emotional, and psychological effects of technology.
To me, a phone is a tool. I would not take it to a point to lose a friend because of a device.
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