I started reading today's Apple announcement on my cool state-of-the-art MacBook Pro, and finished reading it on my stupid obsolete MacBook Pro.

The quip satirizes the rapid product-cycle psychology of consumer tech, especially Apple’s culture of keynote “announcements” that can instantly reframe a still-functional device as outdated. By contrasting “cool state-of-the-art” with “stupid obsolete” in the span of a single reading session, Mitchell highlights how obsolescence is often socially manufactured rather than materially real. The humor depends on exaggeration, but it points to a genuine phenomenon: marketing and hype can change a user’s self-perception and satisfaction more quickly than any hardware actually changes. The line also gestures at the anxiety of keeping up—where identity, status, and belonging are tied to owning the latest model.