People think that the iPad is going to destroy a lot of wonderful things about computers: [tinkering](http:\/\/diveintomark.org\/archives\/2010\/01\/29\/tinkerers-sunset) and [programming](http:\/\/al3x.net\/2010\/01\/28\/ipad.html), [creating](http:\/\/www.buzzmachine.com\/2010\/04\/04\/ipad-danger-app-v-web-consumer-v-creator\/) and publishing. So what does that leave us with? Consumption. Or in other words, being an audience.<\/p>\n
I’ve heard this labeled as a problem: something to the clever tune of a “120% consumption rate” or: we have more people consuming than producing content online.<\/p>\n
So what?<\/p>\n
– I read much more in-depth articles and stories thanks to the excellent [Instapaper](http:\/\/instapaper.com\/) app.
\n– I have read more books in the past year using iBooks and Kindle than of anything printed on paper.
\n– I’ve watched almost all 700 [TEDtalks](http:\/\/ted.com\/) posted online.
\n– I can skim many more RSS feeds thanks to NetNewsWire and Reeder.<\/p>\n
In short, I learn more, read more, and find more interesting thoughts and opinions that prompt me to write and share my own.<\/p>\n
I don’t see anything wrong with this. In fact, I think this is a great thing. I’m spending more time with higher-quality content than if I were to turn on the TV, throw in a DVD, or spend 30 minutes browsing friend’s photos on Facebook.<\/p>\n
Steve Jobs has famously said:<\/p>\n
>You watch television to turn your brain off and you work on your computer when you want to turn your brain on.<\/p>\n
By this definition, I feel the iPad is a computer and I bet Steve agrees. Many others are categorizing it as a television. People are not simply picking up iPads to turn off their brains (arguably Plants vs Zombies is a game *dedicated* to brains, but I digress), many are also picking up a new device that allows for meaningful consumption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
People think that the iPad is going to destroy a lot of wonderful things about computers: [tinkering](http:\/\/diveintomark.org\/archives\/2010\/01\/29\/tinkerers-sunset) and [programming](http:\/\/al3x.net\/2010\/01\/28\/ipad.html), [creating](http:\/\/www.buzzmachine.com\/2010\/04\/04\/ipad-danger-app-v-web-consumer-v-creator\/) and publishing. So what does that leave us with? Consumption. Or in other words, being an audience. I’ve heard this labeled as a problem: something to the clever tune of a “120% consumption rate” or: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gadgets","category-personal"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1281,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1280\/revisions\/1281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.reams.me\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}