A lesson from lockdown

The iPad had sat in the drawer for at least six months.

My phone can do everything a tablet does, so it had been rendered obsolete. I had bought a “magical and revolutionary device” and now what I had was little more than an expensive pack of polo mints – a way to make long journeys more tolerable with young children. And with the trip to Cornwall now cancelled due to Covid, it looked like even that limited value-add was something we’d no longer be taking advantage off. We’d hit the trough of disillusionment, hard.

It being May 2020, the week away became a staycation, and as it progressed, I realised I’d missed the point. The iPad does have an essential feature – or rather limitation – that my phone does not: It’s too big to fit in my pocket.

By removing all the distracting apps from my phone and confining them to my iPad, I nudged myself into to being more present with my kids and enjoy the time off more.

Cue a thrilling late-night KonMari-style episode of mass-deletion, carefully choosing which apps spark joy, installing them on the still-gleaming vintage iPad and at the same time converting my iPhone X into little more than a 3310 with a camera. And do you know what? I rediscovered the obvious thing I’d forgotten – my tablet doesn't just benefit me by being less convenient than my phone; it's also way better for looking at photos and reading the news, because the screen is bigger. Who knew?!

We hear stories from our grandparents of the resourcefulness of wartime, with their tea-stain tights and ration recipe cakes. In Covid-2020, things are different. We have a technological embarrassment of riches hiding in plain sight, and an opportunity to use them thoughtfully and creatively to improve our reality. Even if we can’t go to Cornwall.