My Attempt to “Think Different”

Since the death of Steve Jobs exactly one week ago, thousands of people have written about his amazing accomplishments. Many of these articles focus on Jobs’ business success as the CEO of Apple, Inc., but one Canadian news article asks us to think of him not as a corporate visionary, but instead, remember Jobs as a cultural visionary.

Steve Jobs’ worldwide cultural impact started with a simple slogan: “Think Different.”

Apple’s 1997 TV advertisement is simple, showing black and white images of people who need no introduction. Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King, Jr., Muhammed Ali, Mahatma Gandhi, and the like grace the screen. We all know their power. We all know of their significant contributions to the world.

According to the ad, these people represent misfits and rebels. The narrator describes them as “round pegs in square holes”. According to the ad, they are neither fond of rules nor the status quo. But they cannot be ignored. These influential individuals changed the world and push the human race forward.

I think it is safe to say that, at one point or another in our lives, we have looked up to one or more of the people featured in this ad. We have glorified them, admired their accomplishments, and hoped that one day we could achieve even half of what they have. And if their success is dictated by their ability to “think different” like Apple says, then I would be crazy to not follow suit!

Obviously, none of the influential icons shown in the ad used Apple products to garner their power. Einstein didn’t use a Macintosh to come up with the theory of relativity. Martin Luther King Jr. didn’t write his “I have a dream” speech on his iPad. Yet, Apple is essentially saying that if you want to amazing human beings be like Albert Einstein and Martin Luther King Jr., buy Apple products!

And we did.

We succumbed to Apple consumerism in an effort to “think different.” If you purchased and flaunted an Apple product, you embraced “different”. You labeled yourself as unique.

But how unique are you, when 99% of the people around you are also using Apple products? I personally do not know of anyone in my generation who has never listened to music on an iPod, never organized their growing music library on iTunes, never typed an email or Word document on a Mac.

I won’t lie. I, too, am a consumer of Apple – I am typing this blog post on my MacBook while listening to music on my iTunes library (and my iPod Touch is less than twelve inches away). I am all for different and unique, yet by purchasing these products, I have somehow conformed to the norm of Apple consumerism.

How did this happen?

In our quest to think different, have we all become the same? This does not only apply to our love of Apple technology, but all cultural icons that make us all want to be a certain way.

We think of ourselves as belonging to an individualist culture. We refuse to conform and try to be as independent as possible. Uniqueness is embraced. Sameness is boring. You get the picture. Yet in terms of technology, by striving to be different, we have somehow all arrived at the same point.

A point of sameness.