Sorry, iPads, sorry

How the duality of humanity makes everything endlessly bothersome

One of the things I love about writing The Rectangle is the opportunity for reflection. When you write for an outlet, there’s a sense of solidity to it; you need to cover a topic from an array of angles and focus on ‘purpose’ and ‘meaning’ and ‘balance.’

Here, though, I can basically argue with myself.

Think back to last week. In that piece, I wrote about the spiritual failure of iPads. And now? I want to find that fool and give him a good ol’ fashioned beatdown for his antiquated views.

It’s not that I disagree with myself — Apple could easily make the tablet a mini-computer and only resists this because it’s money hungry — it’s more I now see it from the other side. I fuck with my iPad again. Hard.

It’s tablet season — and I’ve gone full pharmaceutical.

Part of this revelation (re-revelation, maybe?) is remembering what drove me to get an iPad in the first place.

The idea was to create a sort of Fun Time digital device that encouraged engaged usage, rather than endless doomscrolling. I didn’t install any social media apps on the iPad, instead sticking to longer forms of entertainment. This means comic books, drawing apps, video software, a chess app, and the like. Effectively stuff that requires attention, rather than that spiralling half-focus where I spend an hour on my phone and… don’t really do anything?

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Rediscovering the iPad has been wonderful, but one element that’s driven it in particular is a feature I’d never taken advantage of before: using it as an external display.

Since going freelance, I’ve wanted an external monitor, but didn’t really want to commit the space and the ruin the ~ a e s t h e t i c s ~ of my study.

The iPad solves this. It’s by my side all day: from non-business, to business, back to my non-business business.

It’s interesting how this has changed the device for me mentally. It’s now this Swiss Army knife tool I use for fun and work. It’s something that actually complements the rest of the digital life, rather than sitting awkwardly in the middle ground. Now, the iPad is an actual piece of my technological jigsaw puzzle.

In other words, I’ve proven my earlier self incorrect. What a clown! A dope! A muppet!

Well, kinda.

Thing is, I’d still make the same arguments as last week: the iPad could be so much more. I just think it’s neat. And, in the way I’ve set it up currently, a tool that’s both fun and keeps me off my fucking phone.

I guess that’s the human condition in a nutshell: things can be good and bad and everything in-between at exactly the same time. There’s no correct answer or objective truth, we simply oscillate between perspectives based on a gamut of factors often outside of our control.

Can’t wait to see how I feel about iPads next week.