SINN-CLARK: Teaching an old dog new tricks with an iPad

In general, living this way does not cause problems. My tech savvy family is good about helping me navigate the use of the technology I have to interface with. They patiently show me what to do, while I write down the steps on a series of cheat sheets I keep in handy places, knowing it will take me a long time to master those steps without them.

I started contemplating getting an iPad when they first came out. I had gotten a new camera and it seemed to think the basic photo-taking moves I have used my whole life were no longer good enough. It wanted me to spin dials and tap icons to make it do what I wanted. Then there was the matter of phones.

Everyone I know has a Smartphone; I have a flip phone. So, using one of their phones to make a call or find a number was nearly impossible. Again, it was the matter of stroking, tapping and swirling that slowed me down. My world simply didn’t involve those moves. It was time to make a change and according to those iPad advertisements, stroking, tapping and swirling were what that gadget was all about. I had to have one.

“What are you doing to do with your iPad?” was my family’s first question.

“I don’t know,” was my response. “Maybe stroking, tapping and swirling it will help me learn how to use other things that way.” (Maybe just holding it and playing with it will shift my 19th century brain into the future was my secret dream...)

The collective opinion was that I should get a Smartphone instead. It would do everything an iPad can do, only it’s a phone, too. Why did I want something as “big” and “bulky” as an iPad, when a new phone would do?

I didn’t buy it. I love having a phone that doesn’t know how to do anything but make calls and take messages. My flip phone knows its place in the world; it doesn’t try to dominate my life. I get tired of sitting at a table or being in a room with a bunch of people who are stroking and tapping their phones, rather than conversing. The mentality of “I have to check my e-mail and Facebook constantly” has taken hold and the result is we’ve lost a lot of basic courtesy, as well as the ability to simply sit and enjoy each other’s company.

Besides, I enjoy the silence my flip phone gives me - silence from the world and e-mail and FB. When I’m away from my computer, I have to be engaged in what I’m doing because it’s the only thing I’m doing; everything else can wait. No doubt about it, it was an iPad, not a Smartphone, for me.

Once the purchase was made, my iPhone toting daughter gave me a few lessons in basic iPad use. I flunked the first test when I thought the little slot on the case (to prop the iPad up for easier use) was a place to put a name tag (like on luggage.) I flunked again when I didn’t have an answer to the question, “How will you use your iPad?” (It was on the survey you have to take to activate the iPad.) Hmmm, there went those dreams that simply holding an iPad would make me smarter.

My daughter is patient and smart, so gradually, she got me going. It turns out learning to stroke, tap and swirl is easier than I thought it would be and it opens up a whole new world of information and ways to do things. You can use your iPad instead of your datebook, Post-it notes and lists.

You can use it for GPS, put music on it and listen to music from it. You can take pictures, listen to NPR and read things that are too expensive to subscribe to, like the New York Times and USA Today. And, of course, iPad is all about the internet. Now I can surf the web, do FB, e-mail and Google things without being chained to my computer desk. Amazing! and I haven’t even browsed the App store yet.

Now I see why people are so hooked on their Smartphones. I am already suffering from what could turn into a serious addiction; I carry my iPad around the house with me, stroking and tapping it constantly with all things, moderation is the key; this old dog fascinated with new tricks can remember that...can’t she?

Lorin Sinn-Clark is features editor of the Barrow Journal. She can be reached at lorin@barrowjournal.com