The iPad has arrived…and we’re one step closer to a world without gadgets
The 21st century is undoubtedly turning out to be one in which we’re collectively moving past the need for physical media products (cds, records, newspapers, books, etc) and embracing the ease and efficiency of bits and bytes. But we haven’t really liberated ourselves from physical objects yet. The digitization of media has only shifted the focus of our obsession from physical media products to physical technology products that help us store and access digital media. Maybe its Apple’s fault. You don’t see lines outside the record store (if you can find one) on the release day of a highly anticipated album, but instead you see people camping outside the Apple store for the latest shiny new window into the media universe.
Don’t worry, this obsession with gadgets won’t last long. All you have to do is read any review of the iPad, or try using one. What makes the iPad special is that it breaks down some of the barriers between the user and media. The iPad’s interface is actually an anti-interface — it’s fast, easy to use, the touch screen is very responsive and the content being accessed through it literally takes over the device and immerses the user in it.
You see, the iPad is an important consumer product, because it is going to help us realize that we’re not really in love with gadgets. All gadgets are just inconvenient (but currently necessary) barriers between us and what we really want — instant and seamless access to media and the ability to consume it and interact with it anytime and anywhere. Once we get the media the way we want it, the medium becomes largely irrelevant.
Although some of it sounds like science fiction, the good news is that we are headed in exactly that direction. Cloud computing , free wireless broadband, the internet of things, the growth of multi-touch and gesture controlled interfaces and finally ‘brain-computer interfaces’ are some of the developments that will make this dream of seamless interaction with media a reality someday.
A few years from now, we will look back and chuckle at the sight of an iPad, which will be regarded as just another minor step in the evolutionary ladder of digital technology. We will gloat about how far we’ve come and how soon we made it all happen. The iPad will just be another extinct tech gadget — it will not matter.
But why do I still want one?
Related Post: Technology becomes us — Heidegger meets Apple & Twitter
