The Sleep Blogger
Just don't let it affect your iSleep
The Sleep Blogger has been a longtime user of (and advocate for) Apple products. In fact, these very words were produced on his MacBook Pro. But there’s one thing that keeps him from becoming a full-fledged Apple cultist: The company’s control freakiness.
Now he also has a sleep-related reason not to join the cult. More about that in a moment.
It’s reasonable to believe that once you buy something, it’s yours to do with whatever you wish. The Sleep Blogger’s Toyota may not have an ashtray in it, for instance, but if he wanted to smoke in his car, he could. Apple, in contrast, will sell you an iPhone, but then limit how you use it. Its new iPad tablet is likewise bolted tight, literally and figuratively, severely limiting your ability to customize it to your satisfaction. If Apple made cars, not only would they not have ashtrays, they’d have a smoke detector that turned off the car when it sensed you were puffing away. It’s a company run by control freaks (and if you don’t believe it, read this).
Pee Wee Herman, exhibiting signs of sleep deprivation, shows off his new iPad
The Los Angeles Times reports that the iPad may be problematic in another way:
The iPad, however, contains a touchscreen liquid-crystal display that, like computer screens and television sets, emits light. On the plus side, you can sneak the device under the covers while your significant other sleeps beside you and flip through a couple pages of a book without a flashlight.
But staring at the screen before bed could leave you lying awake. That’s because direct exposure to such abnormal light sources inhibits the body’s secretion of melatonin, say several sleep experts. …
Melatonin signals are sent through the brain as a response to darkness, telling the body to prepare to shut down for the night.
Light-emitting devices, including cellphones and yep, the iPad, tell the brain to stay alert. Because users hold those devices so close to their face, staring directly into the light, the effect is amplified compared with, say, a TV across the room or a bedside lamp, said Frisca Yan-Go, director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center in Santa Monica.
Actually, that’s not a problem for the Sleep Blogger. When it comes to nighttime reading, he’s still a paper-and-ink man.