I Neeeeeeed IT!

When my daughter started speaking in something like sentences, one of her favorite things to say was, "I neeeeeed it". No matter what it was, there were no wants, everything was needed. This came to mind as my aged cell phone began to die and I found myself thinking about my relationship to my phone. While not a luddite, I found this was a good moment to think about my relationship with my smart phone and its future. The more I thought about this the more I was reminded of "Lover Come Back"- a Rock Hudson and Doris Day movie from 1961. In the movie, Hudson plays a ad exec that fills in some blank air time with a non existent product and then has to create the product to fill the need he has created. While cell phones certainly do exist, it is the actual "need" part of them that has grown like a cancer. While I may not need my phone to play games, I do need make or receive a phone call now that land lines and pay phones have become extinct. Of course, having access to maps, news and social media can add value but do they affect the actual need that I have for the product- if that even matters anymore. Perhaps we are destined to have these technologies thrust upon us regardless of our wishes. Take away maps and you will have to use phone apps for directions. While I like having a mobile phone, without it I am powerless. Perhaps the new road to success is by creating a self fulfilling prophecy of need- needed or not.