Something to It
Last time I used this title, I wrote about a more simple lifestyle as part of my Cabin Porn Binge; this time, I’m writing about something different: the iPad Mini.
As I packed my iPad and computer in to my backpack early yesterday evening, I had yet to finish Changing my Workflow with Reeder and Drafts. With half an hour before dinner and an undetermined amount of time after, I had to make a decision between editing my article on my phone or iPad with what little time I had left at home, and then while out on the road. Vastly superior when it comes to writing especially but editing and proofreading as well, my first inclination told me to bring the iPad. After a brief moment of thought, however, as I wrapped my computer cord up and pushed it into the bottom of my backpack, I decided to use it for now, but to pick up wherever I left off on my phone after leaving the house. By no means an uncommon decision to make, I often choose not to use my iPad with its “fancy” Kensington keyboard case in public not because I fear it would get stollen or because I’m afraid it would get damaged, but because I don’t want to be that guy standing there typing away at his iPad in its special case, oblivious to the world, saying but not saying at the same time, “LOOK AT ME, I HAVE AN IPAD AND I DO THINGS ON IT! Hiii, can I axe you a quest — ” well, except the last part. But I’m sure you can understand what I mean: as an eighteen year old high school student, I feel as if every time I use this gaudy piece of engineering brilliance, I make some sort of implied statement about status or something of the sort when in reality my iPad was not something I didn’t have to work for, a gift or present my parents bought me, but a device I spent an entire summer working for.
I realize that I am over thinking this, but to some much lesser degree I believe it to be very true and all too real. Maybe because I was brought up in a house where it was considered disrespectful to glue yourself to a device around other people, maybe because of something else. The fact remains, though, that I am often uncomfortable using my iPad in public.
After mulling over this realization for several moments, the iPad Mini sprang in to my mind as if to say, “Here I am!” The discussion of the iPad Mini’s usefulness is by now long since done and over with, but for this post I’m dragging it back out for a few more rounds before pretending to put it away until I find another reason to discuss it once more. Given that I had previously considered the iPad Mini an interesting product only insofar as a low-end iPad, I was surprised to find myself increasingly convinced of its usefulness in such a situation as this one, where I would — presumably — feel much more comfortable pulling out a device much closer to the size of my phone than a small computer. Maybe there is, after all, something to this iPad Mini. Who would’ve guessed.