This post is by Mike Johns, “When I speak, People tend to listen!”, Founder of Digital Mind State who tweets here.
In a world of laptops, smartphones, tablets, Xbox, and WiFi, a pervasive culture of bloopers or glitches is also growing. Consequently, Digital Mind State has coined a new expression to describe the vast array of new phenomenological experiences that may arise as a direct result of using a digital device. We have decided to name the actual event by calling it a disfold.
As technological speed advances, humankind increases its expectation, which in turn causes us to be more impatient. Take broadband for example. As the speed increases, we become increasingly restless.
I recently downloaded the new Ludacris mixtape from DatPiff to my laptop and then to my smartphone. What took mere minutes felt like forever as I was rushing to go on my daily mountain climb. Hurry the hell up already! That’s why people like me, and people like us, continuously find ourselves talking to the elevator or other digital gadgets while we wait for their completed functions. Indeed, the need for speed is addictive. Yet, wisdom asks: “When is enough ever going to be enough?”
Here at DMS, we’ve been asking ourselves that very question. In the end, we came to the conclusion that, much like meteorologists go about the business of naming each year’s new hurricanes, it’s time for us to take ownership of naming these technological phenomena that make us laugh while driving us crazy. As a result, our beloved baby disfold was born.
Two of the most popular examples of disfolds include the ‘CrackBerry’ (which refers to people who, constantly glued to their digital devices, helped usher in the Blackberry era) and ‘Butt-Dialing’ (which refers to the accidental placement of a phone call while a person’s mobile phone is in the owner’s pocket or handbag). Upon answering the phone, the recipient of the call typically hears random background noise.
If the caller remains unaware, the recipient of the call will sometimes overhear whatever is happening in the caller’s vicinity. A butt-dialed call can continue for many minutes, or until the recipient’s voice mail system ends the call. The true beauty lies in the fact that we all still listen to the voicemail just waiting for something juicy we can use later!
Top 10 Disfolds — Don’t You Hate It When This Happens?!
1. Dropped Call — no matter how smart your phone is, dropped calls still seem to be inevitable.
2. You’re having a heated discussion, The call drops, and you’re forced to callback only to ask: “Was that my phone or yours?” The real question is: Who cares? I’ve got to get this off my chest! “Now then, where were we?”
3. You’re still talking into the phone (usually making some intimate confession that took days to muster the courage to make) not realising the call has been dropped 60 seconds ago. Cheers, Mike Honcho!
4. Both parties call back at the same time. Call goes to voicemail. Both callers give up.
5. You start off texting someone. Mid-text, a call comes in. You forget to press send. Hours later, guess what’s still sitting in your drafts?
6. All Circuits Are Busy. Please try your call again later. Yada… yada… yada.
7. Talking to the elevator because it’s moving too slowly, to your car because it’s acting weirdly, or yelling at the television because you’re just impatient.
8. All kids born after 1999 now have the attention span of a three-minute YouTube clip. You may skip this commercial in five seconds…
9. Those last 30 seconds before your phone battery dies… YEAH.
10. Wait. Who the hell was I calling?
Got a great example of a disfold? Share it in the comments section below!
Mike Johns is the Founder and President of Digital Mind State formerly known as UrbanWorld Wireless, the Los Angeles based company that bridged wireless technology and hip-hop culture. Mike Johns is the driving force behind the Digital Mind State brand, responsible for planning, business development, marketing and the company expansion.
