iHave an iPad, but at what Cost?

Last updated on: April 13, 2010 at 8:29 am by Amy Julia Becker

iHave an iPad, but at what Cost? 2010-04-13T08:29:00-04:00 Amy Julia Becker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

I have a new post at Her.meneutics, the women’s blog of Christianity Today. It begins:

We don’t watch much television in our household, but my husband and I both find ourselves wed to the computer. I was looking through a photo album with our daughter last week, and we came across one from her infancy. She’s swaddled in a pink and white striped blanket, asleep on a pillow between her dad and me. The camera, wielded by my mother, caught both of us on our laptops, typing away. Penny is four now, and her teachers tell me that when she sits at the computer in their classroom, she doesn’t want to play games like the other kids. She wants to type. Or, as she explains, “I want to work like Mom and Dad.”

As of last week, our gadgetry consisted of two laptops, two iPhones, an iPod, an iPod Nano, and an older iPhone that we handed down to our children. Even William, 20-months old, is becoming adept at sliding his thumb across the little screen to navigate towards photographs or games. Our kids will grow up with touch-screens as a cultural assumption, as normal as eating soup with a spoon or driving to the store in a car or sleeping in a bed.

Now we’ve got an iPad too. As far as I can tell, it’s a big and very impressive iPhone. It’s a little heavy, but it moves more quickly than any computer I’ve ever seen. We watched Lost on it last week. The picture quality was clear. The screen never skipped or froze, as it often does when we watch on a laptop. As a viewing experience, it was great.

And yet, I have to wonder: at what cost? Somehow, my husband convinced his employer to buy the iPad for him, so we didn’t shell out the $499. (Last year, he convinced them to buy him a Kindle, so we’ve got that too.) I still haven’t seen his written rationale for the purchase. He tells me the iPad is the wave of the future. He says it will replace laptops and change the way information travels. And he may be right.

But before we ride that wave to wherever it carries us, I want to stop and think about it…

To continue reading, click here.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

April 12, 2010

By the way, we are NOT the Perfect Family

Next Post

April 14, 2010 Picnics and Preschools, Or, What does a budget crisis have to do with my life?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Articles Books Disability Down Syndrome Faith family Perfectly Human Uncategorized

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz