We are all familiar with the excited, overenthusiastic young folks who are happy to wait in line in an Apple store for hours to buy the next iPhone, iPad or iDevelopment. Yet, consistently hovering on the outskirts of this happy bunch are the Apple nay- sayers. It seems that over the last few years, the term “Apple sheep” has become very trendy. For every person who rushes to the nearest mall on the day of a launch, there is also someone ready to launch into a lecture on the flaws of Ap- ple products and their users. In other words, harsh critics believe Apple is a cult, a symbol of inef- ficiency, and choosing an iPhone over an Android phone is a sign of low intelligence.

There is certainly an element of truth to this criticism. Apple does release new products often — many new, very expensive and very similar products. Any excitement over

the newest iPad will inevitably result in it becoming the oldest iPad available within a few months.

Yet the element of free will is ignored in criticisms of Apple and its consumers. As with any argument about new technology or media, people tend to talk as if the human race is being brainwashed, as if we are all being tricked into spending half our days on Facebook, into oversharing our lives on Twitter and into spending hundreds of dollars on gadgets.

As addictive as the Internet and technology appear, the reality of the situation is human beings have free will. None of us have to be on Facebook, none of us have to Instagram our lunches, none of us even need to have a phone. No one is being duped or fooled into spending his or her money. We buy new Apple products because we love them. We choose to spend our money on them. We spend time on Facebook because it is fun, or at least more fun than writing an essay due tomor- row. In the same way that our parents’ generation collected records and comic books, we are the generation that collects new pieces of technology.

Technology is alluring, but it is not evil. We have to stop talking aboutitasifitisouttogetus. Apple sheep are not silly little people who are fooled into spending their money by a big corporation. They are simply people that love Apple and are choosing to spend their money on an iPhone as big as their heads and an iPad as thin as a piece of paper. In my mind, that is a choice deserving of respect.

A version of this article appeared in the Thursday, Oct. 30 print edition. Email Scarlett Curtis at [email protected].