Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds

2014 And My Love/Hate iPad Relationship

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 35 seconds

I love my iPad (ok both of them, I also have a mini, and also my Android phone). But I also hate it.

I love it because I could not have finished my PhD without it. The portability, my ability to use it while my daughter was playing or sleeping next to me or on my lap. Even my ability to sometimes use it to distract her so I could actually sit on a computer!

I love that it glows in the dark (haha) and that I could therefore read in a car late at night, or in bed while my husband and daughter sleep. I love that I can read kindle books now and not worry that my daughter will tear them up, and that I can also listen to audiobooks and podcasts (this was my dream a while ago – i wonder if someone would invent an iPod/Kindle all rolled into one; though i think current kindle versions behave like iPads/tablets).

I love that I can use my long commute time (2-4 hours total each day) to do something productive like respond to emails, read stuff, grade student work… Or…. Ummm… Play with reclaim hosting with Jim Groom before #et4online started, or … Ummm… Play with #fedwikihappening

I love the notifications for twitter and facebook. Otherwise, i would NOT be able to handle cMOOCs. At all.

I love google drive/docs even though the apps are buggy and problematic and limiting. Still. I have co-authored entire articles on my commute to work on my iPad. I have had 10s of hangouts on my iPad. I even surprised myself by posting student grades up on banner using my Android (ok i know i jumped to Android but you know, mobile devices).

I love the diigo browser.

But I so hate my iPad.

I hate it.

I hate that up until the MS Word app finally came around (and even now, the sadists make it view only, pay PER YEAR to edit. Arrghhh) editing text was difficult. I had a workaround for viewing docs w track changes by saving them as pdf and opening them on Notability (which, ok, i paid for, but it was on sale and it’s awesome).

I hate that I got used to using it so much that even though I have huge issues with my home laptop (my kid threw up on it about a year ago and instead of paying for proper fixing which is about 90% cost of a new one like it, i paid for a colleague to fix it, but it’s not perfect) i am not replacing it… Because i use the iPad so much more anyway.

But now… Now i hate it because i can’t use #fedwiki fully functionally from it. I can add paragraphs, fork, etc. but i cannot edit anything already written and i cannot move text. Oh wait a sec, i have been using it only on Safari…hmm let’s try Chrome and the Diigo browsers and see what happens! Probably not much since Android has same issue but it’s worth a try.

4 thoughts on “2014 And My Love/Hate iPad Relationship

  1. Hi Maha, I like stories about how people feel about the tools they use. Especially creative work arounds and adaptations to themselves that integrate the machine and user in creative ways. My Dad used to ride the bus from Berkeley to San Fransisco every day, read the newspaper and fold it into the crazy patterns like hats, rude noisemakers and airplanes. I think it indicates a form of exploration and sign of a creative mind to go beyond the obvious designed use of a tool or a computer program.

    It might be that “breaking” things as a child is an indicator of the world not quite matching their needs? A kind early science of things. With computers we can access types of people spaces but I wonder what we call that space that opens up around tearing a book? As a kid we broke windows and it seemed only the boys did it. Sarah would be able to tell us if this was a form of existential exploration or just fun:-)

    A friend of Lindsay’s was barfing in the toilet at a party and dropped her cell phone into the mess. Her Dad, a Programmer soaked in water for a week then dried it and sprayed all over with WD-40. It didn’t work, but should of:-)

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