There were certain periods in my life where I was so ingrained into the world of technology that nothing else entered my mind. I was working in it all day, then writing and talking about it all night. It was my 'thing' and I enjoyed it, but I was boring. Sure, I loved being around cutting-edge technology, getting the inside scoop on loads of new things coming before the market did, but there comes a point where you're just not a well-rounded person any more.

I was for all intents and purposes a 'fanboy'. The things I used where such a part of me that I felt I had found my tribe, and I was absolutely going to tell everyone about it. First it was Android because I chose to use Googles OS and not that stupid fruit one, my calling was to argue the point on almost everything there was about it. My friends all asked me for tech advice, came to me to know things, and I preached my calling to all that would listen.

My journey to Apple was a long and boring one, but I don't feel like I needed to be like I was when I used Android. Now I am part of the Goliath and not fighting with my fellow Davids. That was until the iPad Air 2 came along. When handed one for my job, it had to quickly become my everything. On my journey to tweak and bend the iPad to work for me, I defended it as if it were my child. Because I was so invested in the whole ecosystem around working on an iPad, it became a part of me, and in many ways I was an "iPad guy" before many of the people currently looked up to even started. I was in before it was cool!

I got emotional when people like Joshua Topolsky trashed by beloved iPad, and defended it to the death. It was in fact when using an iPad became too much I that I began to see that others may have a point too. My passion for something was blinding me to see anything else. When in fact there are far too many reasons behind what tools we use and things we buy that others may never understand. In much the case, we as content creators often feel the need to defend or explain our purchasing decisions to people that consume our things for reasons I still don’t understand myself.

Now my tools mean very little to me. Sure, I have strong preferences towards iPhones and particularly macOS, but they are not part of me any longer. I love technology, and mainly stick to Apple products as I know them the best, but I can't be as evangelical for them as I used to be able to. In many respects the tribalism we feel is natural, no one likes things they love receiving negativity but it gets a bit much after a point. Use what you use and be happy.