…another problem with the iPad is that of personal space. There is a difference between doing things like browsing on a smartphone and a laptop. A phone is small and, by definition, private; what happens on the screen is not public knowledge. Even on a 12” laptop, the screen is big enough to, effectively, enter the public sphere. I see no reason why an iPad, with its large screen, should prove to be an exception. Sure enough, there’s nothing wrong with the public sphere. After all, 200 years ago letters were part of the public sphere: people knew their letters could be shown to mutual friends and the like by the addressee, and wrote accordingly. But even reading a book or, for that matter, a magazine is nowadays primarily an act in the private domain, and the shape of the physical object facilitates pivacy. With the big, glaring screen of the iPad that privacy and intimacy may be lost.
