With the iPhone, I’m forced to write streamlined and punchy prose.
By Belmont Lay
As you’re reading these lines, dear reader, it is imperative to know – given the news of Steve Job’s demise trickling in through my iPhone*sob :(* – that this missive you’re reading was written entirely on, well, an iPhone.
As a writer, I am and shall be forever indebted and grateful to Steve and his creations.
Steve’s gift to people like me (and I believe a host of others) was his foresight, intended or otherwise, to enhance our abilities, in a somewhat mutant kind of way.
These days, I can put ideas to touch screen pretty much anytime, anywhere.
I can research an article, look up sources, fact-check, edit and re-write as and when I feel like it.
Without skipping a beat.
Case-in-point: This article about Isabella Loh and the bridge-burning fracas she got herself into that was published three weeks ago was entirely penned, erm, I mean, pressed on an iPhone.
I was out window shopping on a Saturday but that was no excuse to NOT churn out a piece while on the go.
I don’t believe for a second that Steve set out making the iPhone thinking that it can be co-opted and exploited the way I have.
But he created a device with very flexible functionality.
The note-taking feature was never made for prose, but that doesn't mean you cannot try to use it for writing.
If you know a thing or two behind the science of writing, you should be aware that writing is carried out in a burst-pause-review-repeat manner. And coincidentally, this temperament fits right into the way the iPhone allows writers to function. And bloom.
So here’s an unintended consequence, a somewhat rather fortuitous upside to it all: With the iPhone’s physical design the way it is, it has built-in restrictions that in fact work in favour of writers who aim for streamlined, efficient and punchy prose.
Yes, I write most of my stuff on the Notes device, yes, THAT yellow Notes device that was actually made for short one or two-worded reminders and not full, grammatically-correct sentences.
And yes, the touch screen key pad isn’t exactly spacious and typing can take up precious cognitive energy.
But despite all these so-called shortcomings, as a rule of thumb, anything that is too tedious and too long to write on an iPhone is very usually too tedious and too long for anyone to read.
The iPhone, undoubtedly, has set the parameters very well for me. And I am inclined to believe, for you, too.
Plus, the fact that I can write as and when I please, because Notes holds that thought for you, I now have a much lower probability of misplacing a thought.
Remember, a flurry of short bursts of writing, is followed by pauses to review what was written and then back to more short bursts, reviewing and pauses?
That’s what makes writing on an iPhone work, especially while on the go, such as on a train or waiting for somebody or the bus.
You will never lose what you’ve written because Notes can be synced to email and everything will be cached.
So, for those of you who are not happy with the iPhone 4S, because it’s not exactly an iPhone 5, don’t be a bitch, ok?
When I first got my hands on an iPhone 4 in late July this year, having never used a smartphone in my existence, it didn’t feel like anything that came from this Earth.
The smooth glass screen, the sleekness of the casing and the solo button defied intuition, but has more or less set the parameters and influenced how designers build phones and tablets.
You must know and remember this: The iPhone, ever since its first generation was launched four years old, has pushed the limits of industrial design.
This is basically the best damn thing Man could have mustered at this stage in our evolution.
I can only leave you with this bit of funny you might have encountered in one form or another: God made creation in six days. On the seventh, He outsourced everything to China.
So, be thankful. Because, or else, your iPhone would never have been assembled.
You never would have read this.
And you would have been poorer for it.
Thanks Steve, you’ll be missed.
