So I was going to put in a long post in the iOS vs. Android thread, but I decided to cut that post short and post my musings here instead. Since, well, it was beginning to get really off topic.

I really like ranting about this topic because I feel like not enough people do it. My knowledge of technology is above-average so I feel that saying my opinions on this matter may do the general public some good, as well as give insight to why people like me could even bear to think this way.

I'll just start by saying that "Apple Culture" just really, really irritates me. It irritates me to the point of getting defensive and posting long Internet rants. This is because there are Apple fans who think that their products are invincible and therefore it makes themselves look smarter or whatever. It's complete arrogance because while claiming to have the best product, you are looking down on other people over something as trivial as what company you decide to throw your money at. And that arrogance is based off what you heard from other people without doing your own research, and you follow those people like sheep. Why should sheep be arrogant?

This is the most common (and stupidest) reason to get arrogant about Apple products.

"I got a Macbook because it's superior because it doesn't get viruses!!!"

Yeah, and neither do most PCs because there are free anti-virus programs that can protect you on top of the fact that only people who don't know shit about computers get viruses on their computers in the first place.

I understand wanting a Mac if you need special software only available on a Mac, or even if you prefer Mac and you feel like throwing your money at Apple - because it's not my business who you decide to support.

But don't try to tell me that my computer (or phone) is inadequate, because that's stupid. My friend got a Macbook Pro in 2007, the same year that I got a Dell Inspiron. Her Macbook Pro was going to the shitter just as much as my Dell was (perhaps more so? I remember her Macbook freezing a lot; at least my Dell didn't do that, it was just loud and would overheat so I had to blow a fan on it, haha). Her Macbook eventually bit the dust and wouldn't even turn on anymore. My old Dell can still function, with its only "repair" being a battery replacement.

I just bought a new Dell a month and a half ago and already it's miles better than my old Dell was when it was new - and I paid just under $500 for it. My friend got a new Macbook Pro with Retina Display (because it's cool?) with Apple Care (Apple's 3-year support plan) for... $1500? She got a discount which is great, but dang, if that thing is going to be used the same way that I'm using my new Dell and it's expected to live as long as my Dell... why bother paying the extra $1000? The fact that you have to go to Apple to fix your computer is kind of bullshit too. If my Dell breaks, I can take it to a local computer repair place and they'll have it fixed for less than an arm and a leg. Can't say the same thing about Apple.

Anyone who says that Apple is majestically better than Google or Microsoft knows next to nothing about technology and probably shouldn't have such an uninformed opinion. You are allowed to prefer Apple based on your own personal taste, and you are definitely allowed to prefer Apple based on your software needs. But if your Macbook and iPhone are primarily used as Facebook machines, then you're probably wasting your money. More so for a Macbook than an iPhone, though - at least the iPhone is only $100 more with a contract than your average Android device, and the only major difference is where you can buy your apps from.

I will say that we should be grateful to Apple for being so innovative in technology. Without Steve Jobs, we wouldn't have smartphones or tablets, I am sure. We also wouldn't have had a decent competitor for Microsoft so that they can stay humble and on their toes and actually try to make good products (doesn't always work though... I'm looking at you, Windows 8). But ever since he died, Apple themselves hasn't been contributing a whole lot of anything brand new to the market. The last big thing to come out was the iPad.

While Apple has come out with new technology, competitors have come out with products that compare. These products are basically just as good as whatever Apple has come out with.

The ONLY exception to this, I think, is the iPod. I have looked and looked and looked for an alternative to an iPod that would suit my needs as a music lover, but I don't think that such a device exists. I mean, if all you need is a 2GB device for some of your music, then you can get an alternative to the iPod Shuffle (which is a piece of shit, by the way - if you're gonna get an iPod, get a nano or higher, jeez). But I've read a lot of reviews for other devices that have a larger capacity for music and if I need to upgrade to a 32 GB device, the iPod Touch is an obvious choice... if the Samsung Galaxy Player had a higher GB capacity and was more up-to-date by a smart device's standards, I would buy that in a heartbeat. I really want something that can hold a ton of songs but I can also use a Spotify premium plan to play Spotify playlists offline so that I don't have to buy (or pirate) music every time I want to listen to a bunch of different songs on my own time.

I own an Android device, and while it definitely works for my needs, it only has an 8GB capacity so I can barely put any apps on there, and for some reason its performance has been dragging. This doesn't turn me off from Android as a whole, though, because my husband has the exact same phone as I do and his runs a lot more smoothly than mine. I think his needs are just lesser than mine (as that is usually the case when it comes to technology, except when it comes to gaming). But now that I've had experience with a smartphone, I am more in-tune to what my needs are in that area. So unless a better Android phone comes out by the time my 2-year contract is up, I would love a Moto X.

I'm also a pretty big Google fan, so that contributes to me being an Android girl.

But what really set me off was a couple of summers ago, I was on a vacation to the east coast with a friend of mine. We were in Boston on the 4th of July to watch the fireworks and some of her friends from New Hampshire were with us. I knew that they all had parents who had money, but I don't think anything really prepared me for realizing this, but every. single. person had an iPhone. All of them.

And it creeped me out.

It creeped me out because I realized just what mass marketing can do to people. These people, who are all individuals, all of a sudden were glued to the same piece of technology as everyone else. That just didn't sit right with me. I'm all for people sharing something in common to the point where it brings people together (like MLP, for example), in fact that brings me a lot of joy. That's not what the iPhone was doing in this particular instance, though. Sure it is a communication device and it helps people communicate with others from pretty much anywhere, but in this particular situation, everyone was isolating themselves from the people directly with them with the exact same tool.

I didn't want that for myself. I wanted to stay up-to-date with technology, but not at the cost of looking like a drone. So I went with Android, which I knew was reputable and functions much like an iPhone. I have been decently happy with it, but I look forward to getting a newer piece of technology when my contract is up later this year.

To wrap this up, all I wanted to say was that technology is not magic. All companies and their products have pros and cons to them. What marketing can do is convince you to buy a product without really understanding your own needs or understanding what else is out there. It bothers me that people just do what their told because a shiny advertisement said something. This is our hard-earned money - or our credit scores - that are at stake here. Not that money should be idolized, but throwing money at companies that display shiny ads is why many of us in our country have such huge debt.

Apple has high-quality products. I'm not trying to say otherwise. But I am all for quality - and buying what you need - at a price that people can afford. And for people to know that technology is simply a tool for bettering our lives. It doesn't have to be a competition or a religion.