Getting kids up, putting phone away.

I watched the Apple Media Event earlier this week with a critical eye. To be sure, we’re at a point where there are few surprises. It’s troubling to think that after years of leaks in the supply chain, Apple still hasn’t figured out to prevent its own team from doing the leaks through bonehead moves. The sitemap XML, seriously?

Tim Cook, after seven years in the big chair, still hasn’t figured out how to appear excited about anything that Apple has accomplished. His cadence is slow and he smiles, but I don’t get a sense of wonder or excitement. Maybe it’s just my read. At least I know that Phil loves photography because he trips over himself trying to get all of the info out. I don’t even need to bring up Craig, who is just a delight to watch and listen to. Overall, the event was boring, which is the new normal.

There’s a deeper problem, though. Every year, the keynote follows the same contours and, in almost every segment, uses the same words, verbatim. The only nuance is the facts and figures that conform to the new device. It’s so much faster, the best iPhone ever, the world’s most popular camera, incredible advancement, our best line up. Trite.

They spent about 25% of the time talking about the truly noteworthy Apple Watch Series 4, and 75% of the time painfully going over details of the XS/XR updates. Reports have been out this week stating that the 6S and 7 are the most popular iPhones. Those same reports conclude that there’s pent-up demand for this year’s models. I’m not so sure.

I see three factors at play.

The Death of Carrier Upgrades

Carrier upgrades presented a nice, stable, and affordable way to handle our smartphones. The carrier picked up the major portion of the tab for the unit in exchange for a two year service agreement. For most of us, that was fine since we weren’t going anywhere anyway. We paid a few hundred dollars and we were set. When that business model disappeared, we had two options: pay in full or subscribe to your phone.

Phone Subscriptions

Offering interest free installment plans destroyed iPhone resale value. It used to be that you could sell your unlocked iPhone and get a large share of the cost of your new device. My iPhone 6S+ with 128GB was $949 when I bought it three years ago, and is valued at $150 today. Why would anyone pay a few hundred dollars for a used phone when they can just subscribe to it like everything else. $300 for a three year old phone, or $60/mo for the top of the line new phone? The problem is, if you don’t do the math, upgrading your phone every year or two on an installment plan is financial suicide. Device cost, AppleCare, taxes, and carrier charges, not to mention cases adds up incredibly quickly. You don’t get a sense of that large expense when it’s broken up into little pieces.

Underutilized Features

Let’s say you want to and can afford to upgrade your phone every year. An honest survey of how you use your phone will reveal that you may never use any of the features of the XS as compared to the X or even the oft-forgotten 8. Yes it’s crazy fast, yes FaceID is faster(?), yes it’s super retina, but if we primarily use our phones for web browsing, music, and texting, you’ll never need the high computational power that was the headline feature. Most of the pictures that I take aren’t for magazine covers, they’re for posterity, so a very small percentage of photos will need the enhancements that the XS offers. I never game on my phone, but if I did it would probably be something simple like Monument Valley or a puzzle. I’m also still waiting for AR to do something actually useful, in spite of Silicon’s Valley insistence that it’s the future for everyone. 512GB, half a terabyte, is huge. I struggle to think about a use case for a typical daily user that would need that amount of space within the 3-4 year window that they’ll use the phone. The only thing that seems to get close is if you’re shooting 4K video daily. Oh, but you’ll need a nice iCloud storage plan to make sure that you can back all of that data up.

The same can be said for the state of apps. In the early days, I was buying apps left and right. Most of my friends and coworkers couldn’t understand why, but they would ask my opinion. I’ve bought one app in 2018 and it was $5. If I download any new app, it’s usually because I have a personal connection with the developer (i.e. I follow them online, or a friend recommended it).

The hard truth is that the iPhone has become an excess. Lisa Jackson was right: the best way to be environmentally friendly is to keep your phone for as long as it works. It’s a pure commodity, a luxury, that holds no monetary value beyond its role in being a personal, mobile computer to the first owner. It’s capabilities far outstrip the typical user’s usage. The upgrade proposition has lost most of its allure.

I won’t be upgrading my 6S+, probably for a few more years, but I have nothing to worry about. Apple will always have the best iPhone ever for sale, in the best lineup that they’ve ever offered, that is an incredible achievement by the whole team. And when I do pay for a brand new phone and Apple Watch, I’ll do so with full knowledge that while the monetary value will not hold, it’ll be supported with updates for years, and in just a few months time, it will no longer be the best iPhone that they said it was. But at least I won’t be broke.

Honestly, enough with the mobile websites already.

Maybe I’ll do a clean install of iOS 11 before hopping over 12. Just strip out a lot of barnacles.

At a doctor appointment in the office suite next to US Rep’s district office. The office is locked down with a video doorbell. Honestly dude, no one cares about you that much.

Also, Apple, will you please be courageous and add watch band and case colors for men? Black and navy are trite.

🎾 tagmoji, so hot right now.

iPhone X S is the worst possible name. Except maybe for Pixel.

PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET: If we all stop clicking ads, maybe they will go away.

I love Brie.

The weather was cool this morning after several days of rain, the first few hints of Fall that’s at least six weeks away. It was also our first time back at our Parish after several weeks on the road. Sitting in the pew, meditating before Mass began, I was overwhelmed with a sense of comfort. This is where I belong, where my family belongs.

First Reading: Isaiah 35:4-7

Second Reading: James 2:1-5

Gospel: Mark 7:31-37

Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but underneath are ravenous wolves.

These words of the Gospel of Matthew ring in my heart in light of recent reports on sexual abuse within the Catholic Church. We’ve been dealing with this publicly for over 16 years, and still have yet to reach the bottom. It seems that Jesus’ stark warning is more true than we’d like to think.

The allegations, credible accusations, and testimony reveal an overwhelming darkness. It’s no wonder the Bishops have been so flat-footed in their response. I don’t believe that every single bishop is involved in a cover-up or conspiracy. I imagine that they must have been completely overwhelmed when confronted with these realities. The bishops made mistakes and erred in their various individual responses, but I don’t believe that very many of them would willingly or knowingly put children at risk for the sake of reputation. It was a terrible judgement error with dire consequences. What’s clear is that we need to do something drastic. We need thorough investigations in every diocese to get to a resolution.

It’s estimated that that about 5% of priests during the period investigated committed these horrific acts. Previous research and discoveries show that the rate of pedophilia roughly mirrors the general population. It’s not that the priesthood is particularly predatory, but rather it’s shocking that people would be so depraved as to abuse their positions of trust and moral authority.

Some may be quick to point to priestly celibacy as the issue. Others, homosexuality. More recently, many news articles have superimposed the American political division onto the Church. Of course, the terrible state of Catholic publications and journalism hasn’t helped in mustering a coherent and logical response. These conclusions are a distraction; people trying to take advantage of the situation to push a particular agenda.

When looking at predators in general, they come from both genders, all ages, and from all professions. They’re preachers, police officers, politicians, school teachers, vagrants, professionals, blue collar workers, friends, relatives, neighbors. They’re single, divorced, and married; predators are predators whether they have a wedding ring on their finger or not. The common link is their mental illness that drives them to sexually prey on children.

These abuses complicate the life and ministry of our priests. The vast majority of these men live the calling that they profess. Part of the power of the priesthood is the personal connection to the congregation. My children love our parish priest and, through their interactions with him, know that they are welcome and belong in the Catholic Church. Parents need to be naturally guarded when it comes to their kids, but it’s possible to be a responsible parent and still have your children develop rich relationships. We need to keep a close watch on our children and not put them, or any adult, in a potentially compromising situation.

As I consider what’s next for individual Catholics, I think the words of Peter in the Gospel of John are just what we need:

Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.

It seems that every idea floated out there involves me sabotaging my own faith life. Abandoning the Church is not the answer. We need to shine an overwhelmingly bright light and confront this, now. We need to work through the criminal, civil, and canonical justice systems to resolve these matters. We need to continue to remove from the priesthood any man who has even just one substantiated allegation against him. We need to build robust systems to weed out the bad apples in the Program for Priestly Formation, and continue a healthy regimen of emotional fitness for priests in active ministry. The answer is to redouble our efforts to continue the constant work of renewal and reform.

It’s important to keep focused on the real issue. Predators have infiltrated the priesthood as they have infiltrated every segment of our culture. We need to root them out with extreme prejudice and not let the 5% destroy the multitude of good works that the Church carries out every day.