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As a new iPad user, I’m wondering if this device is making me dumb. Don’t get me wrong, I love this device and know that this, and all the “me too” devices that will follow are going to change mobile computing forever. Still, in my digitally obsessed manner, I’ve decided that I want to do all my reading on the iPad. Why not – I have the Kindle app (I don’t like iBooks and already have kindle books that I’ve read on my iPhone), there are various great magazine apps, Press Reader is awesome and it’s a great device for keeping up with blogs. The problem is, there’s so much there, it’s accelerating an issue I was already worried about – the difficulty staying focused on one thing for longer than a few minutes.

Rather than reading through books from a single, beautifully designed device, I can barely concentrate long enough to get through a blog post. This is not a physical design flaw but rather an issue caused by the access to information and other great apps that are sitting there, asking you to go get them.  I continually find myself jumping around from app to app, website to website, checking/sending email, etc.  I’m sure most of you struggle with this all the time, especially at work where you are pulled in multiple directions throughout the day.  Now, imagine that small amount of time you’ve traditionally held onto for dear life, where you can curl up with a good book, being ripped away and replaced with another device, disguised as something to read on, ensuring you are a total slave to technology.

It’s not completely fair to blame this issue on a device as more and more, I find myself somewhat full of panic that there is so much information I want that I certainly can’t waste my time relaxing with a good piece of fiction.  If I’m honest with myself, this issue was percolating before I started using an iPad.  The iPad has just exacerbated this behaviour.

The funny thing is, I’m not sure I’m upset by this new dynamic in my life.  Instead, I feel completely committed to using my iPad for all my reading and finding a way to control my constant urges to access other things on the device.  I don’t need to describe all the benefits of the iPad – there are tons of sites to tell you what you need.  I want to take on the challenge of figuring out the “right” way to interact with my devices, just like the industry/market is learning as it goes.  In this regard, we’re living in a pretty amazing time.