Why the iPad isn't a Kindle killer and we won't see the death of tv

My family now owns a Kindle and an iPad. I got the chance to play around with both this week. The Kindle looked and felt dull and outdated in comparison to the iPad. There's not doubt about that. (The iPad was so shiny. I think it stole my soul.) But my Dad loves his Kindle. I asked if he wished he'd waited for an iPad and with out a pause, my Dad replied in a negative fashion. My Dad thought the iPad was too shiny. Metaphorically blinding. Nope, he'd rather stick with his Kindle. According to him it feels and looks just like a paperback. It's easy to use and he can make the font bigger very simply. The iPad feels weird in his hands, too big and too small at the same time. And the touch screen weirds him out. He accidentally hits things he doesn't mean to and he can't quite get the hang of a touch screen that doesn't rely on pressure. And as far as ebooks go, like many people from older generations, he can't read anything longer than an email on a computer screen. My father isn't a luddite by any means. He was the first internet pirate I ever knew. But I asked him straight up "Do you like the Kindle because it's simple to use and is set up similar to 'older' tech?" and he said yes.

My Mother watches the TV show "Bones" religiously. Yet, somehow she managed to miss recording the first episode of this season. Oh, no problem, I told her, you can just watch it on Hulu! This really confused her. I explained that Hulu allows you watch television over the internet. My Mother was shocked and confused so I tried to show her how it worked. But she refused to watch it online. Something about it deeply disturbed her. Maybe the idea of spending an hour in our computer chair, maybe she wasn't ok with NuvaRing commercials, I'm not sure. She didn't want to talk about it. She'd rather miss one of the most important episodes of "Bones" than watch it online.

My parents both remember when their families switched from black and white television to color. It was a very different experience that came from a very similar source. The difference in operating a B&W TV vs a color one was minimal. When we switched from cable to satellite (and eventually a dvr service) there was a learning curve. It's a very different experience from a kind of different source. I wasn't used to anything else so I picked it up quick, but my mom still fumbles occasionally. It was once suggested to me (I forget by who/what) that in the near future people will watch things from their television via the internet exclusively. Some people do use the internet to watch television, like netflicks on the xbox. However, your average adult would rather go to Blockbuster than stream something. The experience is essentially the same, but the operation has a completely different mindset.

I loved my little brother's iPad. I use Hulu on a daily basis. But no matter how shiny these things are, most people over 40 don't want to have anything to do with them. I expect that by the time I am middle-aged and stuck in my ways, I'll have Multivac in my brain and the intertubes playing on every wall of my house but I'll so not be ok with finally switching to the metric system--I have no idea how far a meter is.