Take my Wallet .. Not my Phone

Exactly 2 years ago, I was having a late dinner with friends in an Istanbul restaurant. I left the dinner a bit late and I was going to the parking lot to pick up my car. Streets were quiet and lights were dimmed. I was carrying a small bag, my wallet was in one pocket in my pants, and my phone was on the other pocket.

I then noticed a young kid arguing with his mother as there walking behind me. Then, they passed me, and suddenly the kid throw himself on me. As I was trying to protect him from falling down, I felt a hand in my own pocket, and another hand in the other pocket.

I immediately realized I am being mugged! It just happened so fast. I had one hand tied because I was carrying that bag, and I was using the other hand to protect that kid from falling down. I realized that he was an active player of the process and operation on muging me!

My reaction was instinct. I dropped the bag, and held tight to my smartphone. I was not willing to lose it. I felt my wallet was going away, and I knew that I am losing it. In seconds, the robbers were in a car that come from behind, and they all took off.

As I reached my car and calmed down, I noticed that when I was forced to lose either my wallet or my smartphone, I chose to hold on the smart phone not the wallet! I guess, my basic instinct was that my smart phone is more valuable than my wallet. It was not the value of the phone itself. It was the overall value of what it contains, what It meant to me, and what it meant to lose it. There was an emotional connection. When forced to deicide in a flash of a second. I chose to keep the smartphone, and lose the wallet.

Am I alone in this? Not really. I was reading today a comment by a colleague that reminded me of the whole story. Prof. Filipe Soeiro wrote about a study “from KPMG which references that 71% of the Chinese consumers would rather lose the wallet and only remaining 29% rather lose their smartphone”. I was happy to know that I share the same position with 1 billion people in china! It was a relief!

On a more serious note, our mobiles are becoming the most important devices in our lives. The same study by KPMG showed that globally, 41% of people would prefer losing wallets to their phones, and some 42% of consumers in India and 21% of consumers in the UK feel anxious if they forget their mobiles at home.

Before the era of smartphones, most of us would feel that the worst experience is to lose a wallet, with the money, IDs, etc. I was amazed that I made a different choice when forced to determine what to lose and what to keep. The smartphone is no longer only a phone. It is an extension of us, our memories, our values, and also our money. It is our connection to the rest of the world. It is not only a device, I can see it also as a production, innovation, and communication platform.

We are more connected emotionally to our smart phones than our connection to our wallets. Technology is becoming more important to mankind when compared to any time before. After all, which one is closer to us when we go to bed: our wallets, or our phones!