No corporation deserves our unquestioning veneration. Look behind the curtain of any of them, and you’ll find something unsavory and cancellable. Apple is no exception. (Steve Jobs may have been a visionary, but he was no saint.) But there’s no question that Apple has had a tremendous impact on our society. As the company celebrates its 50th anniversary, we should take a moment to recognize and honor its achievements.
I’ve been an exclusively Apple customer since 2015, when I completed my indoctrination into the Cult of Mac by purchasing my first Apple Watch to go with my MacBook Pro, iPad, and iPhone. Even when I didn’t own or use any Apple products, the company played an important role in my career and personal life.
The Apple II, which was released in 1977, made computers available to the general public. No longer were computers confined to large air conditioned rooms tended by experts or a toy for hobbyists with soldering irons. Computers became a consumer product. They performed everyday tasks. And when connected with modems and telephone lines, they made the world more accessible. If it weren’t for the Apple II, there wouldn’t have been the Commodore 64—and the technical writing career that enabled me to use my talents and education to make a good living.
It was another Apple product, the original Macintosh, that gave me my first full-time technical writing job out of college. The Macintosh expanded our creativity with a visual user interface, multiple fonts, and desktop publishing. It became possible to create user manuals with screen shots, different levels of headings, and an attractive page design without typesetting and paste-up. It took Windows a while to catch up to the Macintosh (and the Amiga). But as Steve Jobs pointed out, Apple showed what could be done with computers, and the industry followed.
Each new Apple product line expended our capabilities. The iPhone enables us to stay connected, informed, and entertained anywhere we go. The Apple Watch helps me maintain healthy habits. But it is the iPad that plays the most important role in our family.
Our granddaughter, who has aphasia caused by her cerebral palsy, uses an iPad with the Tobii Dynavox TD Snap app as her voice. She expresses herself well with it, including the words kids her age don’t say in front of their elders.
A recent incident at her middle school showed the importance of her having this technology. She was volunteering with her classmates in the Peer-Assisted Leadership (PAL) program at an evening event for incoming sixth grade families. One of the parents confronted her about having an iPad at school. Even when one of her classmates explained that our granddaughter can’t speak, the parent still complained that it wasn’t fair her kid didn’t get one. (I know the Chromebooks provided by the school district aren’t that great, but come on.) Our granddaughter was able to speak up and advocate for herself until the teacher asked the parent to move along.
This technology wasn’t available when my mom had a stroke. She used a file folder with common words pasted on the inside and a spiral notebook with names and other words she needed. She had to point to the picture or word to communicate. If she had the technology my granddaughter has, she would have had more independence and a better quality of life.
Gen Alphas, like my granddaughter, are often mocked as “the iPad generation” and are now called “screenagers.” But the iPad puts her on a level playing field. She can speak, text, write, listen to audiobooks, socialize on Roblox, and live like any other young person in the 21st century. That alone shows the benefit that Apple, and the companies that emulated and built upon it, has brought to our society.
All corporations have their flaws and harmful actions, but I believe Apple has done a net good for humanity. Happy 50th anniversary, Apple.
