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Status Insanity: Why the iPhone Is the Perfect Status Symbol


Volume 9 Number 3


Republic of China." And those fake iPhone signatures "allow China's working class to share, however minutely, in the prestige of China's new American status symbol."


All this is happening in a society


where I actually use the phone far less as a phone. Most people who need to get a hold of me email, text, WhatsApp or BBM messenger. Eight out of 10 times when my phone actually rings, it's someone trying to sell me life insurance. And I ignore it. Soon we might come to an age where we wonder why an iPhone is even called a phone -- just as some once wondered why a floppy disk was called floppy.


Technology was supposed to be


November 2014


in the service of man. But when in a world of Google Glass and Apple's Watch, technology becomes a status symbol and it quickly turns into an extension of our egos. The 'i' in iPhone is now the


operative letter.


And soon we will have the cool new Watch with its dizzying array of icons and ability to tap-communicate with your Watch-ed loved one across the room. As comedian Ellen DeGeneres quipped: "So excited for the Apple Watch. For centuries, we've checked the time by looking at our phones. Having it on your wrist? Genius."


There's irony somewhere in


this but until Apple comes up with a product called iRony, and livestreams its launch we won't get it.


BY SANDIP ROY In India the iPhone makes your


life complicated before it makes it simpler.


A friend got an iPhone because


she could not call Uber cabs on her Blackberry. That solved a pressing problem -- how to call a cab if she's out for drinks and it's rather late. Unfortunately now she is terrified she will leave her über-expensive golden phone in the cab in a tipsy haze. So she has to plan her social life very carefully. If there is any prospect of drinks on the horizon, she leaves her iPhone safely at home thereby defeating the whole point of getting it in the first place. Smartphone, indeed.


I don't have an iPhone and have never had one but it does not mean I will never get one. I have not avoided the iPhone because I disapprove of Apple's labour practices in China or any such high-minded reason. I do own a Mac and love it. And I have a Blackberry which I have no particular love for, and is not cheap either, but I stick with out of sheer inertia.


I am just a bit of a status symbol


Luddite. By the time I finally get something cool it's already well past its coolness expiry date. Some people are just not early adopters. Oh, the iPhone is on Version 6? Where has the time flown!


I also refuse to use up my


precious Internet bandwidth in India to watch the iPhone and iEverythin- gElse launch in far-off San Francisco, live on my Safari browser. What other status symbol inspires that kind of insanity? I just don't get it. Why are so many people watching the launch of a product that most of us cannot even afford, though Apple sales did go up 400 percent in India after it initiated its installment and buyback schemes?


It goes without saying that the iPhone is a status symbol. But it's a revolutionary


status symbol.


Unlike that Birkin bag, it's a status symbol with really cool whiz bang upgrade-able


features. That makes


it a status symbol that actually does something


instead of just sitting


there, being a status symbol. And while we might have to bluff as we pretend to appreciate the finer points of 15-year-old single malts versus 18-year-old single malts, everyone can actually enjoy an iPhone, if not for its features, then just for its sheer aesthetics. "It's not a status symbol to me," says a friend who wants one. "It's just quite nice-looking like the iPad.


And it takes slow motion videos."


In fact, Apple has made aesthetics a status symbol in itself. "A Blackberry is far easier for


office work," admits a new iPhone user a bit sheepishly. But the iPhone is way prettier. "You flaunt an iPhone, but you don't flaunt an Android," the VP of a digital media company wisely told Bloomberg explaining why Apple could get away with pushing its older models in India counting on our appetite for brand "cachet at affordable prices". "Affordable" of course being a relative term here.


Best of all, this is a status symbol


you can carry everywhere. You do not have to awkwardly try to insert it into a conversation -- like the name of the club you belong to or the American business school your child attends or the car you drive. You can just fish it out of your pocket and look at the time. Or like my friend, the new iPhone user, post a picture on Facebook and coyly say "Because I can now take selfies." That is classy.


That's what makes it a godsend for a status-obsessed society like India. It fuses what has become the ordinary Indian necessity aka a mobile phone with high-end luxury and in a way, strips it of any consumer vanity guilt


in a country where as stories


constantly remind us that two-thirds of the population lives on less than $2 a day. If you routinely post photos of yourself on Facebook flying first-class on international flights you are an insufferable show-off. But if you post photos with your new iPhone you are just on the cutting edge. It's a status symbol that you can always justify -- Ineed that Uber app, I want to shoot Hyperlapse videos, I have to take Instagram photos.


selfies and Instagram photos on other rotten


Of course, now you can take smartphones


too (except my


gives you that discreet extra stamp of authentication


Blackberry). But the iPhone that smugly sets


you apart. No wonder in China, after the iPhone skyrocketed as a status symbol, a lucrative new side business emerged according toMinyanville. com: the selling of fake "has logged in via iPhone" signatures for users of the massively popular instant messaging program Tencent QQ.


In China, writes Josh Wolonick, an iPhone transcends mere luxury becoming "symbol of wealth, but also of ability and of a kind of western independence


that is taking hold, along with capitalism, in the People's


Picking Up the Pieces Consolidating


FROM PAGE 1 deposit accounts


at one financial institution can make it easier to monitor the accounts and avoid low-balance fees, but be sure the accounts stay within the FDIC's insurance limits


(start at www.fdic.


gov/deposit). If there are accounts that have not been used in a while but should be kept open, find out how to avoid paperwork and fees associated with "dormant" accounts.


"And if your loved one's situation has resulted in a loss of income, consider how to eliminate unnecessary expenses," said Luke W. Reynolds, Chief of the FDIC's Outreach and Program Development Section.


insurance coverage. Confirm, for example, or renter


insurance, loved such as Social monitor


Verify that there is adequate that


there is homeowner


checking to see whether the person is eligible


insurance. And, consider for government-coordinated


Security


disability insurance and Medicare or Medicaid.


Avoid financial crimes. Help ones


their bank,


investment and credit card statements plus their credit reports (visit www. AnnualCreditReport.com


or call


1-877-322-8228) to look for suspicious transactions. Be wary of phone calls or mail


promoting


investments and other schemes. For tips, see When People Face Tough Times, Crooks Try to Profit.


Learn more about your duties as


a financial caregiver and where you can go for help. Check out guides from the


Consumer Financial Protection


Bureau (CFPB) called "Managing Someone Else's Money" (www.con- sumerfinance.gov/blog/managing- someone-elses-money) and the U.S. government's official Web site for caregivers


Topics/Health/caregivers.shtml.


at www.usa.gov/Citizen/ Also,


the U.S. Administration on Aging helps caregivers connect with organizations that


can assist with a variety Managing Deceased Person


Take precautions against identity thieves who target the deceased. Criminals look in obituaries and other sources for details about deceased individuals they can use to try to open or access accounts. Among the first steps to take soon after a loved one dies is to notify his or her banks and investment firms so they can scrutinize attempts to withdraw funds from the account. Also consider reporting the


the Affairs of of


problems (call 1-800-677-1116 or go to www.eldercare.gov).


a get-rich-quick


death to the fraud departments of the nation's three major credit bureaus (Equifax at 1-800-525-6285, Experian at


1-888-397-3742 and TransUnion at 1-800-680-7289).


Security gov/agency/contact


Also quickly contact the Social Administration (www.ssa. or


1-800-772-


1213), pension providers and others who may be paying money to the deceased. It's also good to safeguard the deceased's driver's license and Social Security card.


Locate important documents


needed to wind down the deceased person's financial affairs. Examples include insurance policies, the most recent will (an original, not a copy) and multiple


copies of the death


certificate (needed to apply for death benefits from life insurance policies or Social Security and to access bank and brokerage accounts).


Inventory the deceased's financial accounts. Stop automatic payments from the person's bank account or credit cards. Inform the credit card issuers about the death so they can cancel the cards and prohibit future transactions.


Compare several funeral homes before committing to one. Prices and options can vary considerably.


Check if all deposits are federally


insured. Depending on the types of accounts the deceased had, the death could result in some funds exceeding the $250,000 federal insurance limits. However, the FDIC's rules allow a six-month grace period after a depositor's death to give survivors or estate planners a chance to restructure accounts. For more guidance, go to www.fdic.gov/deposit


or call


1-877-ASK-FDIC which is 1-877- 275-3342.


Know your rights if a debt


collector contacts you to pay debts of the deceased. "Any debts typically are paid from the estate of the deceased, not by family members," advised Gray. If there isn't enough money in the estate to cover the debt, it usually goes unpaid, but there are exceptions, such as for co-signed loans. If you have questions, talk to a lawyer. And, if you are contacted by a bill collector seeking to collect on a questionable debt, request proof of the debt and include a copy of the death certificate. Learn more from the Federal Trade Commission at www.consumer.ftc. gov/articles/0081-debts-and-deceased- relatives. For sample letters


to use


when dealing with debt collectors or to file a complaint to the CFPB, start at www.consumerfinance.gov/ newsroom/consumers-report-being- hounded-about-debts-not-owed.


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