Goodbye, Ipad. (and other thoughts)

 

I am so very pleased to announce that we are selling ( cough…getting rid of) our ipad.

 

GASP

 

Are you crazy? Everyone wants one?

( and I hear a few people going duh, I never wanted one)

 

I am a very big fan of the internet and gadgets to the point of being cyber punk ( minus the hacking skills, sadly). I am a gamer, a writer, blogger, blah blah etc etc. In other words I like the virtual world quite a bit.

What I don’t like however is seeing people basically walking while texting or using technology over dinner. And I am getting absolutely freaked out by seeing kids and adults walking while using their ipad…almost in a trance.

We got one and I admit I was excited…then I thought what is the point of this?? Do I really need to be on social media 24/7, or watching movie while grabbing a coffee? Plus I can’t really download anything onto it, it just doesn’t have the memory for what I do to computers. And it’s too bright to read ebooks with.

So the only point of it really was to go online, and to watch movies. Or better yet, become an app addict like every iphone user!!

I never bothered with it very much, but Billy started to get addicted to it, taking it everywhere ( yes, even in the bathroom) and I noticed he stopped reading as much or doing other things he would usually do. I talked with him about it and we both agreed, it had to go. I don’t feel good about having my daughter use it either, because although some apps are cute, and we all like them, I don’t know the health consequences of touch screens. I personally have physical and emotional reactions to too much computer use, and need to limit it. I struggle with that because there are so many blogs and sites I would like to read.

And I know people who are fine using the ipad and not addicted or whatnot, but at the same time my neighbor just got one and she barely looks up when customers come into her store. I have to basically wave the money around for her to see me there, and then get treated as a nuisance because she was busy playing Angry Birds.

I am trying to limit my time in the cyber world, and getting rid of the ipad is what works for us. let me say that again, for us. We want to be offline much, much more than online. So it will be gone soon.

I’d like to know your thoughts about ipads and apps and such and how people use them. DO you think it’s too much?

 

Some articles I have been reading:

http://pogue.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/a-parents-struggle-with-a-childs-ipad-addiction/

Ipod, Iphone contain high levels of toxic chemicals

Side effects of too much Ipad usage

Workers Poisoned by Chemical at Apple

Apple’s mistreatment of workers

Apple rated worst multinational polluter in China

Activists protest Apple’s conflict mineral usage