Put Down the Phone
In a world of useless iPhone apps, this one manages to be both useless and depressing. It's for women. And it counts down their "biological clock."
From the description on iTunes:
The Wonder Clock counts down a woman’s biological clock in real time. Not meant to be a medical diagnosis, it is an interactive, conceptual piece that seeks to start a necessary and empowering conversation about childbearing. The Wonder Clock confronts the question "how much time do I have left?" head on, giving women everywhere an open door to discuss this taboo topic.
Since when is this a "taboo" topic? It's talked about incessantly. And what's "necessary" or "empowering" about it?
Instead of staring listlessly at a countdown on an iPhone touchscreen, there's a more effective way to "confront" the question. Get married. Have babies. Or not. Your choice. But either way: Put down the damn phone.
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May '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
Back in the dark ages when phones were just phones, I used to say that if after I died I heard a phone ring I would know where I was. That was when phones were just phones before there were cellphones. Halcyon days they seem to me now.
May '10
Re: Put Down the Phone
Two of the last three posts of Rob Long's have been about iPhone Aps. The other one was about Twitter.
Rob... Put your hands where we can see them and back away from iTunes verrrrrry slowly....
Next up: The Ap for iPhone Addicts. Sort like a round on the house at an AA meeting.
May '10
Re: Put Down the Phone
And this product has just been updated...
May '12
Re: Put Down the Phone
Unfortunately, it goes against the message Feminism has been repeating ad nauseum to women for the past 40+ years from women like Helen Gurley Brown; That you can have it all eg a successful career, good money, independence, exotic travel, dating handsome men, and then magically right before you turn 30 you'll meet your own 'Mr. Big', with whom you'll have 2.3 beautiful children with, live in Westchester County thanks to his six-figured salary, and have a tony apartment in the city.
However, the reality for women who buy into that plan looks a lot more like Kate Bolick.
Jun '10
Re: Put Down the Phone
It is an important clock. Baby production creates the future brainpower that creates the economic growth that we desperately need to slow down, stop, and reverse the debt clock. Only problem is, it might be too late. If it wasn't for immigration, we'd already be past the point of no return. Europe has already passed it.
May '10
Re: Put Down the Phone
This is a good thing. Women aren't told often enough that it's irrational to postpone having children until they are ready.
They will never be ready. There is no amount of money that children — nor a childless couple — can't burn through and waste. There is no time in life when children become the sole interest a parent; no time when other desires fade away and other potentials are entirely fulfilled.
I know childless couples who want kids but live in big two-story houses with fine vehicles, gourmet appetites and lots of entertainment. Simply put, they desire comfort more than children. But everyone politely nods at their decision to "wait" because, to modern generations, having kids is not considered a social obligation. Like buying a car or house, it is entirely voluntary and focused on pleasure.
In short, it's another manifestation of the perpetual adolesence which has become normal. This year's election will mean nothing if this cultural rot continues.
Apr '12
Re: Put Down the Phone
I have now found the perfect birthday gift for my sister-in-law
Apr '12
Re: Put Down the Phone
Good to work with a deadline. Those who have kids for pleasure are in for a surprise.
Jun '12
Re: Put Down the Phone
I like the line from Neil Simon's Biloxi Blues, "People tend to believe things that are written down," and so it goes with the iphone...oh technology!
Nov '10
Re: Put Down the Phone
@ Jim Ixtian
That you can have it all eg a successful career, good money, independence, exotic travel, dating handsome men, and then magically right before you turn 30 you'll meet your own 'Mr. Big', with whom you'll have 2.3 beautiful children with, live in Westchester County thanks to his six-figured salary, and have a tony apartment in the city.
That's what bothers me about so many Hollywood movies. We see these ladies in their twenties and thirties, hopping into bed with every man who comes along, meanwhile bemoaning the lack of "good men out there."
Why should a man respect her and treat her like a lady, when she has shown no self-respect? She has slept with every Tom, Dick and Harry, so how can he trust her?
/end of Olive's rant
Mar '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
Half right. I think the app is a good idea, but I have kids for fun (and slave labor).
Mar '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
Rob is wrong. Single or childless women pretend it is not an issue. They are lied to, and they lie to themselves.
Promoting the biological clock in this way is not so different from going to a funeral: it may be depressing, but it often serves as a swift kick in the rear.
Re: Put Down the Phone
EJHill: Two of the last three posts of Rob Long's have been about iPhone Aps. The other one was about Twitter.
Rob... Put your hands where we can see them and back away from iTunesverrrrrryslowly....
Next up: The Ap for iPhone Addicts. Sort like a round on the house at an AA meeting. · 7 hours ago
But there are more apps! More apps to buy! So many apps! I can stop anytime I want!
Jul '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
There is nothing sadder than a childless couple. It breaks my heart to see them relaxing around swimming pools in Florida, sitting all suntanned and miserable on the decks of their boats -- trotting off to Europe like lonesome fools. It's an empty life. Nothing but money to spend, more time to enjoy and a whole lot less to worry about.
The poor childless couple are so wrapped up in themselves, you have to feel sorry for them. They don't fight over the child's discipline, don't blame each other for the child's most obnoxious characteristics, and they miss all the fun of doing without for the child's sake. They just go along, doing whatever they want, buying what they want and liking each other. It's a pretty pathetic picture.
Everyone should have children. No one should be allowed to escape the wonderful experience that accompanies each stage in the development of the young -- the happy memories of sleepless nights, coughing spells, tantrums, diaper rash, debts, "dipso" baby sitters, saturated mattresses, emergencies and never-ending crises.
Jul '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
How dismal is the peaceful home without the constant childish problems that make a well-rounded life and an early breakdown; the tender, thoughtful discussions when the report card reveals the progeny to be one step below a moron; the end-of-the-day reunions with all the joyful happenings recited like well-placed blows to the temples.
Children are worth it. Every moment of anxiety, every sacrifice, every complete collapse pays off as a fine, sturdy adolescent is reached. The feeling of reward the first time you took the boy hunting -- he didn't mean to shoot you, the lad was excited. Remember how he cried? How sorry he was? And how much better you felt after the blood transfusion? These are the times a man with a growing son treasures -- memories that are captured forever in the heart and the limp.
Jul '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
Think back to the night of romantic adventure when your budding daughter eloped with the village idiot. What childless couple ever shared in the stark realism of that drama? Aren't you a better man for having lived richly, fully, acquiring that tic in your left eye? Could a woman without children touch the strength and heroism of your wife as she tried to fling herself out of the bedroom window?
The childless couple live in a vacuum. They fill their lonely days with golf, vacation trips, dinner dates, civic affairs, tranquility, leisure and entertainment. There is a terrifying emptiness without children, but the childless couple are too comfortable to know it.
You just have to look at them to see what the years have done: He looks boyish, unlined and rested; she's slim, well-groomed and youthful. It isn't natural. If they had had kids, they'd look like the rest of us -- worn out, wrinkled, exhausted -- normal.
--Ann Landers version
Feb '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
Aaron Miller: This is a good thing. Women aren't told often enough that it's irrational to postpone having children until they are ready.
They will never be ready. There is no amount of money that children — nor a childless couple — can't burn through and waste. There is no time in life when children become the sole interest a parent; no time when other desires fade away and other potentials are entirely fulfilled.
I agree. I wish my wife and I had started having our family sooner. Instead we felt we had to get our finances better and our careers going first. But guess what, where children are concerned, your finances and career will never be at a good point. Things happen and you're forced to adjust. The best time to start a family is right after the honeymoon. Having children is the most maturing action you can take, for both the mother and the father. You may think you're grown up and responsible, but you don't know what it means to be mature until you're a parent. And that translates into other aspects of your life, improving your career performance as well.
Edited on August 3, 2012 at 5:06pmFeb '11
Re: Put Down the Phone
In my experience, childless couples are far less engaged in civic affairs than are parents. It's parents who care the most and are the backbones of the everyday civic world, from local politics, to church activities, to Memorial Day parades, to all the local arts non-profits.
Re: Put Down the Phone
Jim Ixtian
Unfortunately, it goes against the message Feminism has been repeating ad nauseum to women for the past 40+ years from women like Helen Gurley Brown; That you can have it all eg a successful career, good money, independence, exotic travel, dating handsome men, and then magically right before you turn 30 you'll meet your own 'Mr. Big', with whom you'll have 2.3 beautiful children with, live in Westchester County thanks to his six-figured salary, and have a tony apartment in the city.
However, the reality for women who buy into that plan looks a lot more like Kate Bolick. · 18 hours ago
Just so. Sensible young women are very much aware of the issue. The number of young women who are not sensible -- especially among those at elite schools -- is legion. This App will inspire fury and rage in feminist circles.
Re: Put Down the Phone
No Caesar
In my experience, childless couples are far less engaged in civic affairs than are parents. It's parents who care the most and are the backbones of the everyday civic world, from local politics, to church activities, to Memorial Day parades, to all the local arts non-profits. · 3 hours ago
Most of the childless couples that I have known got divorced.