Do Girls Like Gadgets More Than Boys?
Point vs. Counterpoint

By Maria Simoes, 4N Computer

About a month ago I was sitting in the Iron Warrior office as the rest of the staff attempted to hash out possible point versus counterpoint topics for this term. At the time, I had been playing around with my RIM BlackBerry - checking my e-mail and what not. At the same time, I began a discussion with some of those around me about my newest gadget. The topic suddenly turned to how I was weird - a GIRL who like gadgets. Some tried to explain away my weirdness - I was an anomaly. After all, I'm a female Computer Engineer. According to them, I don't exactly fall into the "normal female" category.

These excuses rather shocked me. I don't feel like an anomaly or weirdo - rather, I see myself as residing within the norm of today's female society (with respect to gadgets and other electro-mechanical toys). One of the only other females in the room agreed with me - girls and gadgets are standards in this modern world. Hence, I am now writing this article.

I intend to prove to you that not only is it normal for girls to like gadgets more so than boys, but also that it's been bread into them for a very long time. Yes - girls and gadgets isn't some newfangled 21st century phenomenon. Rather, girls and gadgets have gone hand in hand for the past century.

Don't believe me? Well then, let's start with the dictionary definition of a gadget. According to "dictionary.com" (what?! you expect me to own a physical dictionary when all I really need is my laptop, my wireless router and my wireless pcmcia card?) a "Gadget" is "A small specialized mechanical or electronic device" or "a device that [is] very useful for a particular job ". Wow - really specific eh?

Thus your typical BlackBerry/Palm Pilot/Digital Camera /iPod/Cell Phone/Laptop can be categorized under gadget. Hmmmm.... this seems kind of limited. Lets rewind a bit to the 1950's. Bread Maker, Rice Cooker, Potato Peeler, Juicer, Waffle Iron. What are these? I'd probably call them gadgets - tiny devices that are very useful for a *particular* job. Kitchen gadgets geared towards women. I hope you're following me here, 'cause if you are you'll notice that this "girls and gadgets" concept ain't all that new! If you're not following, the advertising and sales agencies of the day definitely were. Ads and print media primarily targeted the "stay at home" housewife for leading gadgets of the day (similar to how current marketing is pretty primarily targeted towards teens and pre-teens).

Speaking of teen marketing, let's fast forward to the early nineties - when most of us were hopefully about to burgeon into the wonderful phase of "teenager-ism". Do you remember this age - sitting in elementary or high school with your peers. The boys would come in with a wooden pencil and a pen. Maybe a pink eraser. Likely, they packed all of these things in their pockets. On the other hand, the girls would arrive with cute little pencil cases crammed full of mechanical pencils, glow in the dark pens, purple erasers, sticky notes, etc. etc. All their things would be nicely organized in different, well, gadgets. Guys would have nothing to do with the cute little pencil cases - they weren't "manly" enough. Girls on the other hand, if it could be used for a special purpose or "particular job", we'd be all over it. Hmmmmm.... looks to me like even at an early age, girls have a better love of gadgets than men.

Alright, let's return to the modern era with the knowledge that girls have been using gadgets for a pretty long time. Moreover, young girls tend to use more gadgets than young boys (think cute little cell phone holders). But, what happens today, in the modern age when the girls have grown up? Well, as far as I can tell, pretty much of the same. Boys will only touch the gadgets that will add to their personal coolness factor. For some boys, these are car gadgets, or gadgets that aid in the imbibement of alcohol. For other boys, the concept of cool is centred upon the concept of geekdom - "I have more toys than you! My toys are smaller, faster and more powerful than yours! Mine has a blinking LED!" Either way, hand them a compartmentalized "purse" to hold their gadgets (similar to the one I carry around) and they run away in fear. Sorry, but I haven't yet found a man who will willingly carry a "purse" of their own to hold the contents of their overflowing pockets. It's just not *manly* enough!

Ha - here is where I (and my fellow womenkind) win. I like all gadgets. I'm rather a gadget whore - tiny vibrating gadgets... (my BlackBerry, get your minds out of the gutter!), purse shaped holding gadgets, car widgets, the extendable arm for a pressure sensitive shower head, game gizmo's, even kitchen gadgets. You name it, I find it's "specified purpose" of the utter usefulness and often well worth any cost incurred by myself. You men however - you do not like gadgets as much as we girls do. You will outright refuse to use a gadget if it does not have a certain "coolness factor". We're willing to take 'em all, you pick and choose. Ergo, we like 'em more than you - since usually nothing will stop in our way.

So, stop looking at me like I'm an alien as I'm walking around with my headphones in my ears and my BlackBerry on my belt. I'm freaking normal damnit (at least, that's what the voices in my head keep telling me....)

By John Olaveson, 2A Civil

Who says that women like gadgets more than men do? Certainly not me. I love my gadgets and I’ll do almost anything to keep them.

See, men not only like gadgets more than women, we need them to feel secure about ourselves. What man can be happy with his life without prizes to show off? “I got this bejeweled watch because I think it looks really good. Oh yeah, it’s for my wife… [suspicious eye movement]” is one such example of a man showing off his wonderful, fancy gadgets. That watch probably never left the man’s wrist in ten years. Men like to make big competition out of gadgets. Who has the best gizmo? Who can make something better? This is part of the reason there are so many men in engineering. We have something to prove to other men of the world. We can make the tallest tower, or the fastest computer, or the strongest killer cyborg. Or maybe we men just want to make the best newspaper this side of the New York Times.

Women do not feel the need to compete with other women or with men. They have other sources to gain the security in their lives that we men derive through the acquisition of gadgetry. How many women feel the need to go home as soon as lectures are over, or while lectures are still in progress, and play for hours and hours on their super-expensive gaming platform gadgets? I’m sure there are some women out there who know what I’m talking about, but as a man I can say that I crave the comfort of my gadgets and I’d fail a semester just to be with them. I’ve spent enough money on all those fancy electronics; I might as well make the most of them.

Men like gadgets more than women do because we acquire things only so we can claim we own one. Women usually restrict their spending to practicalities or cosmetics. Now I’m not saying that women do not experience any pleasure from their gadgetry. I’m saying that men collect more things just so they can claim they have them. What woman goes out and buys every power tool they see? What woman goes out and buys thousands of hockey or baseball cards on a whim? Dear readers, these are the things that men are known to do. What woman owns the entire collection of Battlestar Galactica memorabilia? Not as many as men, I can say that for sure.

One gadget that keeps coming up time and again as I think on this subject is the remote control. Men seem to crave holding one as often as possible. And there are remotes for more things all the time. After the television remote there was the VCR remote. Men now had two devices to hold, one in each hand! Who needs a woman any more? The TV and VCR can provide all the women an average man would want.

Then came the car remote. Men could now lock and unlock vehicles from a distance. The effort of sealing a car from burglars was reduced to a click. Stereos have had remotes for many years. For those men who don’t like or can’t afford television it’s a replacement in musical form. CD players and amplifiers are now accessible at the touch of a button. Cassette decks were too old to have remotes. Those poor men of the past.

Computers have remote activation and control; there are even wireless keyboards and mice. Next will be the wireless monitor, wireless speakers, wireless PC towers! Imagine a tower with a near-infinite battery life, or better yet, a tower with a power source built in. Micro-fusion power plants. That would be cool, eh?

Computers are the apex of gadgetry at this stage in history. Bigger, faster, smarter computers are all the rage. The more computers a man has, the better off he must be. These things are expensive, are they not? Portable computers, portable mp3 players, portable lives! The lives of everyone are being minimalized, reduced to pocket packs. Gadgets are helping to get there. And the men are the ones who are driving the industry to do so. More power, more gadgets: more more more!

As my last point, men like cars. Big cars, sporty cars, fast cars, expensive cars! Whoever has the coolest car on the block gets first choice of girls, right? Isn’t that how most men think? Isn’t that why there are more male mechanics than women?

So to conclude this rather disjointed article, men like gadgets better than women because men need the comfort and security of lots of toys to help them get out of bed in the morning. For what’s a day without a little bit of portable technology to show off to all your friends? Who wants to see my new microscopic pacemaker?