Information, advertisements, and otheror sources of media all approach people in various different ways. One can hear it, see it, or both (e.g. television). for most of us when we watch television as an example. That would be one way to categorize media – the senses we rely on. However, there is another way. A huge portion of how media affects us actually relies on a rather unfamiliar factor which divides media into two categories:, lean forward and lean back media.
The concepts might not sound very familiar, but the actual meanings of the two are fairly simple. Lean forward indicates that the users are engaged when they approach theat media., or Iin other words, it is an active medium. The primarymain example of a lean forward device would be the internet. and Ppeople approach this medium in a state called scanning mode. Basically it is a state of mind where the user does not read every single word but scans a page, usually looking forin order to find keywords that are related to what thetheir searchy are looking for. LOn the other hand, lean back indicates that the users are in consumption mode and do not want to make choices., Iin other words, it is a passive medium. A primarymain example would be the television. Psince people take their most comfortable and relaxing postures when using this medium. In the past, these two were clearly divided according to the state of the user. However, things have started to change since the advent of the iPad.

The iPad

The reason why it’s iPad instead of tablets is not because Apple is such an influential company. Yes, the fact that Apple is influential does have some correlation, but it is not the real reason. Tablets that were sold before Steve’s masterpiece were to begin with, very dear . It was simply too unrealistic for the population to buy their own tablets. Only people who needed tablets for their expertise or those who were financially sufficientwealthy enough to buy one could purchase one. However the iPad changed that. Its appearance was almost dramatic. A costly but affordable price, high speed internet, and apps that keep on evolving – surely this was a new source of media that would, was in short time, ready to influence the lifestyles of many people.
Although thise change is still happening, iPads or other tablet PCs are definitely starting to kick in and it will not be long before almost everyone has one. I Now if that happens, people will slowly begin to go further away from alternate media sources such as computers, televisions, magazines, and radios, etc. Since thise rectangular device has almost every source of media inside, (also probably made better) people will begin to lose the need of alternate media sources in the future.

The impact of tablets

It is evident that tablets will become part of our everyday lives in a short amount of time. Then the question is, then what? Although it seems like just another convenient device for people to use, actually the impact it inflicts upon media is substantialquite huge.
To begin with, it has made it possible to bring the internet - which is a lean forward device – into a source of media one can access in a more comfortable position. Sso that it now it is actually has a lean back experience. This means that the list of drawbacks that lean forward brings to the user is decreased dramatically. For instance, a large drawback of the internet was that people take in information in scanning mode. However the tablet makes it possible to do so in a state similarclose to consumption mode. Thus writing styles that were effective for users in scanning mode now becomes practicallyclose to useless.
Another huge impact would be on magazines. Many magazine companies are exited because most only read magazines by skimming the pages. However magazines on the iPad are read differently since it also contains some characteristics of lean forward media. People might actually start to ‘read’ magazines instead of flipping the pages.

A huge change is occurring since the appearance of the iPad. The boundaries of lean forward and lean back media are slowly disappearing and people are beginning to lose the need to lean forward more and more. In the presentation of the iPad, Steve Jobs was lying back in a comfortable style with his iPad. Eventually the iPad will become is a lean back media, and people are slowly beginning to become more and more receptive. As a result, it is certain that many more changes will occur. Us consumers should become more aware of thise fact and getbe ready for the new age of lean back media.