Upgrade Me Page #2

And I don't think it's just because everything is so shiny and sleek and slim-line and lightweight,

it's the fact that it's all working and it all looks so neat and tidy

and you think, "Actually my life could do with a bit of tidiness. If I get that thing there,

"it's going to sort everything out, bring everything into focus, put everything in its right place."

It does make you want to... does make you want to purchase.

Looking around, upgrade culture seems to cross all boundaries of class, age and ethnicity.

Perhaps it's been fuelled by the wealth that this country has enjoyed in recent years.

When I was young, money was much tighter and there was far less choice.

I'm going to meet some schoolchildren to discover just how much of this stuff today's kids have got,

at a school I know well from my visits as a poet.

My first gadget was a radio in the shape of an electric shaver.

How hilarious is that?!

It only played Radio One.

In fact, it only seemed to play Grandad by Clive Dunn!

OK, guys, if you could just pop your stuff... Just take it off the desk for the time being.

If you just clear the desks, thanks.

If you've brought a gadget or an electronic device with you today,

can you just get them out and put them on the table?

'I'm gob-smacked by the amount of stuff the children have brought in today to show me.

'Holland Park School is a diverse inner-city comprehensive

'and the pupils here come from every social background.'

- Is that a special cover for that?

- Yeah.

Oh, that's pretty cool.

- You can put music on it.

- Can you watch videos on it as well?

'These kids are 11 and 12, but a remarkable 49 out of 50 own a mobile phone.

'Only a handful don't have the latest MP3 player or games console.

'And every child here owns a digital camera.

'You can't help thinking that gadgets are actually part of their identities.'

Is it cool to be the same as everybody else or is it cool to be different?

Could you be really cool by NOT having a phone?

If you have a phone, it's cooler than not having a phone,

but it's also cool to have a different phone to your friends.

People like to compare their phones, for just like early on.

Me and Dan were just comparing our phones, comparing the different features

on our phones, such as the camera, the games, the downloading off the internet, and things like that.

What is the ultimate gadget? What is the best gadget to have?

- The iPhone. - iPhone. - Yeah.

- It's cool, it does everything.

- So even though nobody here's got an iPhone, you've all heard of it?

- Yeah.

You all know what one is and you all desire one?

- Yeah. - I don't think I really need one at this

stage in life. - Maybe you're in denial about it,

secretly it's the thing that you desire more than anything?

Um, not really.

'Toys have long been status symbols for kids.

'But for this generation, there seems to be a good deal

'of social pressure on them and their parents to acquire the latest gadgets and be part of the gang.'

It's also really interesting to see what a social tool they are.

Gadgets are often thought of as things that isolate people,

but watching them together here, it seems to me that they're often devices for bringing people together.

'I thought it would be fun to see how many of them could recognise a portable music device from MY youth.'

Has anybody got one of these?

No. What is it?

- What do you think it is? - A box. - I think

it's a computer. - Do you think it's a computer?

I think it's one of the first computers ever made,

inside the box.

It looks like it could be some big, chunky laptop, in its case.

I think it's a radio and it might be like you can sit in it while listening to music.

THEY LAUGH Very comfy! What do you think it is?

It's a music thing, one of the those old fashioned things.

- A gramophone.

- Yeah. - Yeah.

Madonna!

You press a button and this comes up.

- This thing moves, then it takes it, and then it plays it.

- Wow!

- Whoa!

- Put it right at the edge.

No, don't do it too hard.

RECORD SCRATCHES

MUSIC STARTS:

'Music, and how to access and listen to it, has been

'one of the biggest drivers of upgrade culture for today's generation.

'For me, music has always been a kind of fuel that powers your daydreams.'

I'm from that generation that got a wonky spine from carrying vinyl around.

I was in my mid-teens when bands like Blondie were making their noise.

I caught the tail end of punk, and all my spare money went on records.

After vinyl, it was the cassette,

and the Sony Walkman - nothing short of a revolution.

Suddenly you could go anywhere with music.

Then it was CD, minidisc, and finally the digital MP3 player,

dominated by one particular brand.

# This is ground control to Major Tom... #

The iPod was a quantum leap in listening to music.

Suddenly you could have 10,000 songs on this little device.

The comparison used to be with a cigarette packet that you could just drop in your top pocket.

But I used to think of it as like a little block of Kendal Mint Cake

sat there, and with these headphones it was like music playing directly into your thoughts,

it was music being mainlined straight into your imagination.

The Classic iPod will always be white.

'Tom Dunmore is a gadget guru

'and the editor of lads' gadget magazine, Stuff.

'Stuff has dotted every "i" in the iPod story.

'It's gadget porn for those who lust and desire.'

Can we talk about what I think of as the stuff of Stuff?

Do you remember seeing your first ever iPod?

I remember it really clearly actually

because I went to the Macworld Exhibition in London.

It was the first day it was on sale. It had already been out in America,

but not for very long.

Well, I think I've got one of the first ones here, and...

back then, when it started - this is actually a second generation one -

but the first one that came out, it looked exactly the same, but this wheel here was actually mechanical

so it moved with your finger. And I actually really miss that

because there's a kind of really nice analogue feel to quite a digital device.

When this notion of the iPod came along I was really excited about it.

I said to my wife, "I want one of those," and she said, "I'll get you one for Christmas."

And I still use the one that I got all those years ago, so I guess this is kind of an original, isn't it?

- Yeah that's a third generation iPod.

- Third generation?

That's third generation, yeah. So that came after this one.

'Tom walked me through the whole evolution of the iPod upgrades.

'They've come thinner and faster.

'Six generations of the iPod Classic since 2001,

'each smaller, with a bigger memory or more features.

'Of course, there are other MP3 players.

'Brands like Sony, Creative or Philips.

'But for me, it's the iPod that is synonymous with upgrading.'

Is it fair to say that we've been living through a revolution, a digital revolution?

Absolutely.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes