ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the iPad effect: how this object is a moment of change in the recent history of the read-write web and how it can be managed. The chapter in Digital Dieting aims not to critique the iPad, but to show the cost and consequences of obsolescence, and what happens when marketing gains greater importance than teaching and learning. The chapter probes the identity of the 'we', but firstly it is necessary to consider what those 'things' may be. In other words, before presenting the iPad effect, it is important to probe the iPad in the context of digital dieting, focusing not on what it can do, but its purpose in teaching and learning. Before enfolding Veblen's theorisation of conspicuous consumption and adding complexity to the discussion of information obesity and the need for digital dieting, that the experience of using the iPad be expressed, including some of its functions most appropriate to education.
