(※) a new way
Ever since the iPad was launched, some have complained that it doesn’t foster creation in the same way that a computer does, thus limiting itself to a consumption-only medium. And that this trend is dangerous, as it turns us into mindless consumers, sucking everything and anything, all the time.
Yes, the iPad doesn’t foster creation the same way that a computer does. You need only to hold one, to use one for any length of time, before you can tell it’s a completely different kind of beast. This, I don’t refute — quite contrary, I think it’s one of it’s most important characteristics. And that’s kind of the point. We don’t talk nearly as much about any other device nowadays: when’s the last time the tech press was all over some new Dell, or even most new Macs? But the iPad is something else, and so we talk about it at length, and we try to figure out just what the hell it is we’re supposed to be doing with it.
So it strikes me as bizarre that people want to force the iPad into being a device for creation in the same way that a computer is. We’ve seen that performance art is possible on the iPad, and while my words might not be nearly as masterfully crafted as others’, we can still write and tell stories using it. And most importantly, we are still very much discovering all the ways in which we can create with the iPad. This is what more people should be focusing on, what they should be trying to figure out. Criticising is easy.
