iWant, therefore iComplain
Core77 asks why people seem to be complaining differently these days:
Apple is widely recognized as selling people easy-to-use products that they actually want, but these products are often attacked relentlessly in forums and online chatter. Did you ever notice that when people criticize Apple products, it often starts “I love the [iGadget] but…”? Seems to us people never used to complain about products in this way.
I think this brand of complaining stems from these gadgets meetings MOST of your expectations.
For example, if you have an object that only meets 50% of your expectations, your gripes are more general (thus, you probably focus on the good things about it), and you don’t feel the need to defend the device as you complain. On the other hand, if you have an object that meets 95% of your expectations, your gripes will be more specific, and because there are fewer gripes, you’ll focus on those instead of the good. However, because the device lives up to almost all your expectations, you feel the need to defend it while you complain.
Alternatively, it could be a mild form of denial, but I’d like to think I complain about my iPhone this way because it truly does meet 95% of my expectations, and not because “I spent $500 on it and damn it I’m gonna like it.”
