Smartphone users can attest to the fact that owning a mobile device significantly reduces the amount of “stuff” they have to carry around.
Many professionals look back at the days when briefcases were the only acceptable method for lugging files and important papers home from the office each evening. Today, a small messenger bag, laptop holder, or tablet case is the bulkiest accessory you’ll see most men walking around with.
US Weekly has a column titled “What’s in My Bag” that covers exactly what celebrities like lifestyle guru Bethenny Frankel carry at arm’s length all day. These articles are primarily a marketing tool for certain brands who, if they manage to score coveted celebrity purse space, can greatly increase sales to the masses.
But one thing that’s notable is, in the past twenty years, we all carry around fewer and fewer products.
Michael Hausfeld, a well-regarded litigator in the DC-area, used to carry around a briefcase filled to the brim with legal briefs, family photos, and personal mementos. Though that was considered light at the time compared to others in his line of work, today, businessmen and women can hold hundreds of family photos, work documents, spreadsheets, and presentations, entirely in their phones.
Of course, now that we rely on smartphones and tablets to remember every detail of our lives, we are often stuck toting around dozens of electronics.
Martha Stewart admitted she’s known as the “bag lady” because of how huge her purse always is. She keeps two blackberries and two tablets with her at all times and dubs her bag her “home office”.
In many ways, the “essentials” have simply shifted for professionals in the past decade. While before, the most pertinent information had to be carried around in paper form, the same information is still transported, it ‘s just accessible from a mobile device.