Tools For Creation, Tools For Consumption

Back in January, Jeff Blankenberg blogged about the importance of being creators in our society and not merely consumers of other's creations. http://www.jeffblankenburg.com/2012/01/03/be-a-creator-not-a-consumer/ His post was a big motivator for me to finally get serious about developing my programming skills and getting to a place where I can be paid to do what I love.

I was reminded of his post when I saw the latest commercial for Samsung's XL Phone/Tablet hybrid. After whining a bit about how  inconveniently big it is for a *mobile* phone, I started wondering if it could successfully replace a, small netbook our laptop.  In the commercial, the XL is depicted as a fabulous, fast and handy tool for finding and organizing football stats. It's shown as a terrific tool for consumption.  From my (limited) experience, that's what phones and tablets are best at.

Yes, it is possible (with great effort) to create with a phone or tablet. (I am "swyping" this blog post on my phone, hence the funny formatting and odd typos.)  However, these devices are clearly better equipped to serve as content delivery tools.  Add to this Apple's announcement that last month they sold more tablets than HP and Dell sold computers  *all year* in 2011, and the shift in technology seems all the more sinister. I don't want to live on the Axiom (WALL-e, 2008) with amazing content available at my fingertips, but no easy way to actually create something. You probably don't, either.

Perhaps I'm just a dinosaur, complaining about the lack of a good keyboard (and video rental stores).  Graphic artists, enlighten me on the creative possibilities of the handheld computers that arts rapidly replacing laptops and desktops...