Being in the World

Abstract

Every few years, Apple comes up with a new version of its immensely popular iPhone. And every few years, the new capacities of the phone are showcased in sleek TV ads that celebrate a culture of connectivity by design. The iPhone, in these ads, bypasses human limits and avoids communication failures: it makes for perfect understanding among users. A particular new iPhone feature comes to my mind to illustrate the promise of perfect communication: when its camera was made bidirectional, capable of facing the user or the world out there. The phone experience, then, was not limited to a voice far away, but augmented to include physical presence: people could actually see each other. In one ad, a deaf and mute husband uses the iPhone camera to communicate via sign language with his faraway wife: it is a new communicative magic that takes place, one that erases physical limitations and promotes inclusiveness. In another ad, a teenager, when asked the question, “Are you going to say you’re sorry?” by a sympathetic mother, silently says “no” to her screen with her head, while her facial and body expressions say, “But I want to.”