You know what a Humblebrag is, right?
Basically, it's when someone is trying to be self-deprecating, or poke fun at themselves, or suggest that they're not worthy of an accolade, but in the process of doing so, they're still kind of bragging about it. For example, if I won the 'Sexiest Man Alive' award in People magazine (don't laugh… it could happen. I'm a late bloomer) then I would say "Sexiest Man Alive? Did the million other better looking men than me all die in a horrible earthquake that I didn't hear about?"
In essence, I would be saying "Look, ya, I got this award, but I want you to know that it hasn't gone to my head." That way, if someone says to me "You're not the Sexiest Man Alive, not even close…" then I can say "Hey, I know, I already said the same thing." It's almost like beating your detractors to the punch. They can't hurt you if you've already said it first. But, more importantly, the Humblebrag is, in it's very essence, a way to point out something that you actually really want people to know about, but don't want them to think that you want them to know about. You're bragging, but you don't want them to know that you're bragging. You want it to be subliminal. While they're distracted by the self-deprication, maybe the brag will slip in, unnoticed.
But you can't say something like "How come guys keep hitting on me? I don't even have any make up on today…" without basically saying "I look really good. Even without any make up on." The latter being a straight up Brag, and the former being a Humblebrag. They're both essentially saying the same thing, but the Humblebrag is trying much harder to disguise itself.
I doubt I'm telling you anything you don't already know. Informing you of such wasn't the intent of this post. But rather, it was to point out what I consider to be the most blatant Humblebrag of them all. And I'm not talking about some egotistical actor or supermodel here. I'm talking about something that we all have to deal with in our day-to-day lives. From our friends. Our families. Maybe even the person that we see when we look into the mirror in the morning.
I am, of course, referring to the 'Sent from my iPhone' email signature.
Tell me that this doesn't have Humblebrag written all over it. I mean, why else would it be there? Does it serve any purpose other than "Hey, look! I've got an iPhone!!" But people assume that it is subtle enough that they're not really bragging. It's almost like they're thinking, "Well, it automatically adds it to the end of my emails, nothing I can do about that..." Guess what? It's a very easy thing to turn off. But you don't want it turned off, do you? If you did, you would. But, because it's a default setting when the phone arrives, you think that you're getting away with it. Well, I'm here to tell you: you're not.
Look. I get it. You shelled out extra money for the iPhone, and you want people to know about it. But guess what? It's not 2007. It's not a product exclusive to the States, and you didn't buy an unlocked one off eBay, import it, slip in a Rogers Sim card and become one of the few people in town that has one. Everyone and their grandmother has an iPhone these days, and you're not exactly in the consumer elite here. 'Sent from my iPhone' has about as much wow-factor as bragging about having had steak for supper. Sure, steak is good, but it's not like you just ate unicorn meat or anything. Anyone can grab a slab from Safeway and throw it on the grill.
Don't misinterpret me here. I'm not anti-iPhone. I have one. I like it. This isn't an Android vs iOS debate. I'm not saying you're an idiot for having one. You're not. To each their own. But the thing I can do without is all the emails tagged with the 'Sent from my iPhone' signature. It's easy enough to turn off. It doesn't benefit you in any way to have it there. So knock it off already.
Thank you.
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What about "Sent from my iPad" ??
ReplyDeleteThe thing is that people aren't bragging. Apple is bragging. That is why Apple put it in there as a default - and all the other phone makers do too. Speaking as a computer programmer I know for a fact that people often don't realize they can change settings and rarely do. I'm sure that Apple knows this too.
ReplyDeleteSo don't blame people for bragging, they usually don't know any better. Unless they read this blog post that is.
Sent from my iPad
I think it's a combination of both.
ReplyDeleteDon't get me wrong. It's first and foremost Apple. But they did it because they understand the market/appeal of their products. People want to have the 'cool' device. And they want you to know that they have the cool device. They just don't want you to know that they want you to know.
Yes, it's Apple bragging about their own device, but it's also a brilliant sort of viral marketing. People are advertising Apple in their emails. And they're not getting paid to do it, or even getting mad, or anything. They're doing it, of their own free will, and Apple has been smart enough to not only have them be oblivious to what that tag actually is, but even go so far as to convince them that it's actually a cool thing to have on an email. It's the best of both worlds. Apple gets to show off and get free advertising. And people get to brag about their cool device, without taking any of the grief that would normally go along with such a thing. It's like Apple is almost saying 'hey, if anyone hassles you, just tell 'em it was already on the device when you bought it… we'll take this one for the team'. When really, 'taking one for the team' is the best free advertising that they've ever gotten.
That's why it's so smart for Apple to make it the default setting. If you had to turn it on, almost no one would. Even if it prompted you during the device set up, that would be just long enough for people to pause, consider how it would look and decide against it. But because it's the default setting, when they see it automatically attached, they pause for a second, think 'that's not too intrusive' and then let it go. No one sits down at their phone and thinks 'how can I brag about owning this…' but if someone is already bragging for them, they also aren't too quick to interrupt them. And that's what the email tag is, it's people letting Apple do their bragging for them. And the more people that do it, the more common that it becomes to see it on a daily, or even per minute basis, and once that happens, people subconsciously accept it as the norm.
I'll sheepishly even admit that I left it on for at least a few emails when I first got the iPhone. I justified it to myself as sort of being a warning to people that: this reply was sent from a mobile device, meaning it wouldn't be as long or well thought out as a normal email. But then I just dropped it all together. So, yes, this is my 'holier-than-thou', mostly hypocritical diatribe from on top of my ivory tower. But I just couldn't stay silent any more. I was doing myself a disservice by never letting my annoyance be known. So this post was my call to action. My hope for change. Sure, I agree that there are those that just never change any of their settings. But I think they're in the minority. And either way, if it was considered by society to be more faux pas than it currently is, then fewer people would be so quick to just accept that it's there. I'm here to try and make it no longer acceptable (let alone cool) to have such a blatant brag/advertisement tagged onto emails. Even if I have to do it one person at a time on this blog.
Some people want bullying to end, others homophobia. I chose email signatures, and it is the hill I will die on.
(Also, ironically, since having posted the blog, I think I've seen an increase in the number of 'Sent from my iPhone' emails that have come across my desk…)