Perception, as the old marketing phrase goes, is reality.

In that phrase, Lee Atwater was trying to capture one of the inherent issues that one must deal with when dealing with humans: our fickle, changeable way of seeing things based as much on our biases as something extrinsically, verifiably real.

Take, for example, the title of this post. If you watch and read enough reviews of the iPad Mini 6, you are sure to encounter it. And for good and justifiable reasons — not least of which is the fact that it is a marvelous content consumption device. Most reviewers are wedded to their laptops for a variety of professional reasons and the sudden appearance of an iPad Mini is not going to easily fit into their workflow. They can recognize that there are professions where it might be a godsend (e.g., aviation, medicine, students) but those are not part of their world — a world they need to experience to craft a review that will be useful to their readers and viewers.

Their world is ingesting "content" — reading and watching videos. Those activities are the primary lens through which they view an iPad Mini and consider its utility.

Why bring this up?

The other day, I realized my iPad Pro had become a great content consumption device, rather than a productivity machine, as a result of this experiment.

It had nothing to do with the capabilities or tech specs of either device and everything to do with how I was using them. Through this experiment, my Mini had become the place where I was doing "real" work and engaged in "productivity." My iPad Pro had become the screens I was using for watching YouTube videos (about the iPad Mini mostly) at the end of a long day.

As with a number of things about this experiment, I'm not sure what to do with this revelation yet — at least not in practical terms. But I do know it will help me better understand the reviews I am consuming as well as my own needs and biases.