If someone were to describe me, I’d hope words like “easygoing” and “an understanding individual” would come up. I rarely get mad at anyone, I’m rather forgiving and I do my best to maintain at least some level of humility in my life.

But I do have a few pet peeves. Most are just like everyone else’s: people chewing with their mouths open, people who talk on their cellphones while ordering food, girls in Ugg boots, dodging bikes on the sidewalk, you know what I mean.

But as a technologically focused individual, I have a few pet peeves you might not think of: people who use Internet Explorer, @yahoo.com email addresses, people who clog your Facebook feed with those Farmville type-games, YouTube commenters, etc. But there’s one that has stood out more prominently as of late and has been really grinding my gears: people using iPads as laptops.

I’m not sure where this despisal came from, but it’s becoming a problem. And not just a problem for me, but a problem for you, too. It all came together last semester when I saw someone in class take his Apple MacBook Pro out of his backpack and place it on his lap without opening the lid. Instead, he decided to pull out his iPad and set it on his MacBook Pro, in essence using a $2,000 laptop as a stand for his iPad. In doing this, he became “that guy.”

When Steve Jobs first introduced the iPad to the world, did you see him up on stage composing long documents or vigorously taking notes on his iPad? No, you saw him browsing the Web, watching videos and playing games. That’s because the iPad is what is called a “consumption device.” You don’t create content from an iPad, you consume from it. Consumption in the form of browsing Twitter, watching Netflix and, most importantly, playing Angry Birds.

Typing anything longer than a Twitter update is misusing an iPad as far as I’m concerned. Why then do so many students carry around an iPad rather than a laptop? Thinner, less expensive, easy to use? Sure, but so is a netbook and those have a full operating system. Or what about a Chromebook? Those can do almost anything you’d need for about $300.

More than likely it’s due to social pressure, or the cool factor surrounding Apple products. It’s because an Acer Netbook just isn’t as cool as an Apple iPad 2, and that’s the truth. But what about a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 or the BlackBerry PlayBook? Contract issues and price aside, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 really is a cool piece of hardware, but I guess that doesn’t matter as most have probably never heard of it. The only academic reason to own an iPad and take it to class that I can think of would be to view PowerPoints and study the slides, but you would be making a weak case for purchasing a $500 PowerPoint viewer.

Don’t get me wrong, I used to own an iPad. I thought it was the coolest thing when I bought it. “Look at all these magazines and blogs I can read, and all the Netflix that I can watch!” I found it a month later sitting in a drawer, abandoned. This was because I found myself pulling out my laptop more and more and wanting to use the iPad less and less due to its limited functionality. It came to the point that I almost forgot I owned it and eventually sold it.

These tablets have their purpose, but it’s come to that point where we’re sacrificing usability and functionality for social acceptance and giving up productivity in return.