Sorry, but the iPad/tablets are mostly used for browsing, creating photos and using apps and games.
That's not really "enriching" life as i see it, it's a consumer device, not a production device... If you really want to make it enriching, make it non-obtrusive.
And i would feel sorry for those whose life really is enriched with a electronic device.
Something as simple as checking a hotmail account was out of his reach.
With his iPad he is able to:
- keep on touch with my expat brother
- see pictures of his grand kids on FB and emails
- catch up woth long lost fire do on FB
- read magazines without his glasses
...in general: just take part in the modern world as opposed to being an outsider.
If you pity him then your pity is misplaced because he is massively grateful to have a tool that enables him to commune with his kids and grand kids and to commune with us online.
Now he's an avid user. The tablet is a miracle of innovation. And the Kindle has enabled my mom to read again, with her macular degeneration.
Tens of millions of ordinary non-techies out there have transformed their lives by means of these gadgets.
I do use the iPad for Flipboard and netflix and games but just as often when I reach for my ipad I reach for my stylus to draw or headphones to create a song. I know I'm n of one but one of the things I'm teaching the next generation is that this one thing is a tool that can adapt itself to almost all of her tasks in school and beyond, when she wants to play, when she wants to create or when she wants to learn in a non school context. I don't know if most people look at it that way, but those who do will have more opportunity than those who see devices purely for consumption.
But none the less, although your examples are fine. If you want to really produce things like songs, you're going to use software like Ableton Live. Which aren't adjusted for tablets because of hardware (eg. a high quality audio card) or just don't deliver enough productivity.
I don't have any experience with drawings, but can you name someone who is well known that created their paintings/drawings with a tablet? I presume (except 3D artists, graphic designers), all of them are going for handmade stuff. The rest of them produces them with their computers.
And as you explained it, the drawings and the songs in this case are games, not suitable for production. Production takes days, not minutes. That's mostly the difference between consuming and producing things.
I do hope you or your daughter get more interested though, producing can be great.
When it come to making music, absolutely - for professional grade content one would need to use proper tools. I'm barely an amateur and while I enjoy recording my songs and adding to them with garage band, I'm more interested in spending my precious free time doodling with sound than trying to make a living with it. It's better than watching commercials on network tv. Professional do use it for creating though: one example is this - http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-04/22/trent-reznor-... but there are other pros whom are turning to devices as a way to extend their creativity and enhance their performances. So, I believe that we are not far away from a device powerful enough to record, generate and mix professional quality sound for a fraction of what a recording studio of similar quality cost.
I do think I understand your position and you are likely correct. However there is this anecedal observation I have: people of my parents generation, when they use a smart phone; tablet or computer are very likely to consume with either email, web surfing or one variant of the addicting games that are free. However, being overly optimistic and observing my daughter and her peers as they grow up with device first and computer second I hope/believe/think (not sure if any of those words are correct but they are close) that they will have little choice but to learn to use it as the tool it is and push that to its limits and then extend it for their own purposes.
For the record, while I am an apple customer I'm under no illusion that their products are better or more successful than the other consumer electronics makers out there. It works for me and mine and that's why I stay with it. When it doesn't any more and I need to move on to something else, I'm glad there are robust ecosystems out there I can explore.
For the record, i'm not an Apple fan anymore . I've bought the iPhone 3GS and iPod 32 GB (the fat one) as an "early adapter" in the past and both products had disappointed me (software fault on the iPod's hard-drive firmware and failed support from Apple).
What's more, those costly Apple devices seemed the only electronic devices that haven't survived more then a year. For example, my HTC Desire (2010 - Cyanogenmod) still works as a charm, my primary phone is a S2 (bought somewhere in 2012 and yet again, Cyanogenmod) and i still have a Nokia 1100 (2004 and no Cyanogenmod :P) in my car just in case something would happen. Added bonus, that old phone had a flashlight ;-)
That's aside form the effect iOS is having on education. Just take a look at "Bobo Explores Light" and "Dragonbox", not to mention the dozens of Khan Academy videos my girls have watched on their iPad Minis. Then there's the times they do their homework with their Mini to hand so they can look up reference material on the web. And then there's bed time, when they often curl up in bed to read an iBook, often a free one from Gutenberg or elsewhere. They've read a lot of Kipling that way.
Why would you remember anything if you can just look it up on Google? :) - Google effects on the brain.
Why do you need to know spelling, if you have auto-correct on your device?
What did they do with the Khan Academy videos? Did they have a pen and paper with them? Or a pc to do things with it? Note stuff on it. Then they used their tablet to consume things and something else to produce things :)
Yeah, you can watch videos (consuming) to produce on something else :). You can learn by consuming, yes. I have never said otherwise.
PS. Reading is still consuming, watching videos (educational or not) is still consuming.
PS II. I know people get easier access to digital media with a tablet. In that way, it can be enriching.
But severly disabled people can (indeed) enrich their lives with a tablet. But it's still through consuming and not producing.
Heck, here was an article i read some years ago from someone who explains it better then me: http://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking
She is 60 and she never learned to use PCs and laptops but she easily uses iPad for the things I mentioned.
iPad has definitely enriched her life.
Every startup is producing on a non-tablet (pc or laptop), perhaps they make things for tablets, sure.
My words were poorly chosen on the part of "enriching lives" through consuming, i agree.
Take off the last 2 lines of my sentence and it would be more clear what i meant.
A tablet is for consuming, not for producing. (taking pictures and putting a filter on it in 10 seconds is not producing, but consuming)
Every startup is producing things. 0% of the startups are producing their app/webapp/... with a tablet.
A tablet is created to consume, not to produce, that was the point i was trying to make :)
All the responses seem to "consume" things, even though it could be articles, photos, news...
Perhaps my 2 last sentences where to much. But there is a difference between consuming and producing.
A tablet is for consuming, if you are enriching your life through consuming things (skype, facebook, articles, news, ...), then yeah. A tablet would be easier to do this.
But it's not for production and all of the examples you showed me are not for producing anything. It's merely for consuming things and i don't think creating a photo with some filters on it in 5 seconds is producing anything.
All the ones who are producing things (apps, books, ...), did a tablet really let you throw away your laptop or pc? (in my experience, it hasn't).
There is actually a "debate" going on because of this and i only showed my personal opinion. I even think that it started with this blogpost: http://impossiblehq.com/an-unexpected-ass-kicking . Read it, he sure as hell explained it better then me.
If i look at my mom, who hasn't been a pc fan ever.. She is an avid user of the tablet, but i don't see her producing anything. But yeah, she sure does consume a lot and it has helped her join the digital world..
If i would have known some people referenced their dads who haven't ever produced on a pc, i would have explained it differently... But hell, you can't say anything in a quick post, i presume.
Didn't mean to offend anyone. But i'll explain myself better in the future :)
The written word is mostly used for very boring or petty purposes.
That doesn't negate the existence or importance of literature.
"Mostly" is irrelevant. Most of the time an automated external defibrillator (AED) just sits on the wall, most of them are never used, ever. Nevertheless they save lives.
There's nothing tawdry or impure about someone's life being enriched by an ipad specifically. ipads, and other computers, allow people to learn, to connect, and to share. These are some of the most important and profound activities any human being is capable of. Is it pitiful for someone to be enriched by reading a book? Pitiful for someone to be enriched by sending or receiving love letters? Pitiful for someone to be enriched by being able to share their expertise or enthusiasm in a subject with others?