How Sexy Is Your Gadget?
Apart from being very useful, gadgets can also be the source of pride or, as it turns out, a source of attraction. A recent study by Retrevo, a consumer electronics shopping and review site, looked into how and what do people find attractive when it comes to gadgets. The sample included over 1000 people living in US distributed across gender, age, income and location. Turns out, men are overwhelmingly attracted to cool phones and laptops while reading a book is still cooler than using an iPad. Women, on the other hand, found cool laptops slightly more attractive than cool phones and reading a book was reported to be 1% more attractive then using an iPad. Well-off people in general (those earning over $200,000/year) were more attracted to cool phones (71%) and laptops (61%) than iPads (54%).
Why not iPads? The article accompanying the study suggested people might be jealous of the iPad users and find them annoying rather than attractive. Another explanation may be that iPads are still not as common as phones and laptops. Or that, just like when the first smartphones appeared, people still find them a bit too nerdy.
While men seem to be falling more for tech savvy women, ladies still stick to the more down-to-earth values. As the study reports: 'More women under 35 say they are more attracted to someone walking a dog than someone using a cool phone'. Though if you take a dog in the park to impress some girls, make sure you cover your tattoos and piercings and leave you Bluetooth headset at home: 30% of women found tattoos and piercings unattractive and 33% said the same about headsets.
However, probably the most interesting finding of the study is that gadgets have acquired symbolic and status meaning. Hence, people are paying more attention to the gadgets others use almost anywhere they go: at work, at parties, at school, in coffee shops and even at the gym. Using the latest piece of technology is often found attractive because smart technology, just like smart clothes, has become to be associated with wealth, exclusivity, intellect as well as taste, style and a bit of mystery. Seems like smartphones and laptops are the Gucci suits and Prada bags of today.
You can find the full report of the study here.
Image by retrevo
People used to profile themselves with clothes and music. Now they profile themselves with tech as well. I wrote a small post on that regards to Valkee
http://timoahopelto.wordpress.com/2010/12/15/all-medical-devices-will-be-like-valkee/