Cracked

I’ve finally changed my phone. It turns out that my phone contract was up for renewal and I managed to pick up a new iPhone 15plus, which is sleek and sexy. It’s the first time in over a decade when I’ve actually picked up a new phone from a contract renewal. Huong, used to recontract all our lines early so that she could pick up phones at a discount and sell them onto her friends. The phone I had been using previously was a hand-me-down from her.

 

 My New Indulgence

I got to admit that the last few hours playing the new phone. The battery is solid, the face ID feature works and I’m only just getting used to the fact that this is a phone where the volume works sufficiently enough for me not to need to have all my conversations on loudspeaker.

One might ask why it took me so long so change phone. The phone was a second hand from Huong who had a way of changing phones rapidly. It was with me for four years and I am, as a rule of thumb – rough. In a way, I held on because, I didn’t see the need to change the phone. It still functioned and did all the things I needed it to do. It functioned as a phone and the apps that I use worked well enough. I never saw the need to spend money on a new phone because it worked and as my favourite gym instructor likes to remind me - “real men carry cracked phones.” However, the charging jack has been going slowly but surely. It used to be that I would have to hold the charger at an angle, then one day it only charged when put on an air charger. A phone dying on me when I needed a phone most looked like a very real prospect:

 

 Bro-Phone

I talk about my recent phone purchase because there are apt parallels with life, particularly in the employment market, particularly in a day and age where there is a big worry that society is getting older and by extension, there is a worry about what do with the labours force.

Let’s face it, everyone wants sexy, sleek things that function at optimal performance. I love my new phone because its sleek and sexy. Its battery life is resilient and all its functions are in tip top condition. Filling it with new apps and data is not an issue.

If I look at my relationship with my phone, I get why employers are keen to snap up fresh graduates. They come into the work force fresh. They’re enthusiastic and their minds are functional. Everything is new to them and they approach task with energy that their more experienced counterparts treat as routine. The best part is that you can fill their heads with the way you want them to work.

There is, however, one problem with this. Whilst I do get why hiring the kids is fun, the definition of old becomes rather relative. When people are looking for sleek and sexy things, they tend to dump the current sleek and sexy thing the moment they see something else which they may consider even more sleek and sexy.

My soon to be ex-wife and dad do that with phones. The moment there’s a new model, they’ll be out trying to make sure they have it. Given that new models come out on a yearly basis, they’ll happily brave the crowds to get hold of the latest new model.

Think about it, our youth may be young and enthusiastic to work. They may be the sexy and sleek things. However, before they’re ready to mature and be really productive, they get discarded by the kids from elsewhere who are hungrier and willing to work for less or by a technology.

To an extent my old phone was lucky in that, there are people who are more than happy to take “second-hand” goods. For me, the phone that I inherited was not the latest and greatest but it did all the things that I needed it to do. As long as it functioned in the way that I needed it to function, I had no reason to change the phone. My need to change the phone only came about when there was a question of its mechanical longevity.

So, if our policy makers need to look through the fact that while the number of sexy and sleek things may dwindle as people don’t have babies, we have plenty of people who are still functional. Let’s look how we can make use of this growing legion of “cracked” people who are still functional. Sleek and sexy fades according to trend. Functional last a lot longer and you can do more with it. Surely, that point should not be lost on our policy makers.