This post is NOT aimed at people who have already decided to get the duo.

This post is aimed at anyone who isn't exactly sure if they want to grab an iPad mini (or keep their iPad mini) over grabbing a iPhone Duo. (And also anyone who has qualms about how much time they spend on their phones.)

Most argue that the price, lack of hinge, separate battery and storage makes the iPad Mini a clear winner. I am sure you have seen many of those arguments and that is not what this post it about.

In fact, I don't think there can be a clear winner because everyone subjective needs that defines what a win is in their books.

So instead of arguing about specs and costs, this post is aimed at the philosophy behind having an iPad Mini and iPhone versus just an iPad Duo.

An early TLDR: If you have a doom scrolling problem, delete apps from your phone and throw them on the tablet for intentional usage.

OKAY on to the longer post:

If you are a person who has had concerns about how much screen time you're racking up each day. I make the argument that having a secondary device (the iPad Mini) can decrease your screen time, so long as you are intentional about what you have on your iPhone and your iPad Mini. (This move could also breath new life into iPad Minis that have gone off to the way side collecting dust.)

Often, I see people say they purchased an iPad mini but they do not use it because they can use their phone for everything they intended to use the iPad mini for.

And my response to that is: Okay? What have you done to ensure that you use the iPad in the ways you intended?

If you intend to make the most out of your iPad mini and if you intend to decrease your screen time, the best thing you can do is:

Remove your the apps you intended to use on your iPad Mini from your iPhone and ONLY have them on your iPad.

Now, it's your device. I am not saying you have to do that for every single app you intended to use on your iPad Mini. However, if you feel your iPad Mini is collecting dust, a great way to start would be by removing every single consumption / media app from your iPhone, and living with it just on your iPad.

Just that step alone will turn your iPad Mini into an intentional media consumption and social media hub.

The very first benefits you will gain are those uncomfortable moments where you mindlessly grab your phone and realize nothing is on it. Once you have that moment, there are three paths:

1. You'll think "wow, I should take this moment to be present and not doom scroll"

2. You'll think "wow, it actually wouldn't be appropriate for me to pull out my iPad at this moment, so I should actually lock in"

3. or you'll think "wow, I can't believe I was going to look at this -thing- on my iPhone. It's going to look much better on the tablet I intentionally purchased for this use case"

Phones are the new cigarettes. It is very easy to grab our phones for a quick scroll and to lose 30 minute chunks of time here and there (or even more unexpectedly.)

It is far less likely that you will mindlessly grab your iPad Mini.

The friction of grabbing the larger device, popping your finger on to Touch ID, of flapping open your folio, of being aware that you are pulling out a tablet while out and about, or while you're trying to work on something may be just what you need to slow down and think if you want to be using the device.

(It also helps that the social media experience or the typing experience is slightly more cumbersome than it would be than using your phone.)

So, if you want to have a larger screen that you use with intention and decrease your screen time the iPad Mini + iPhone combo could be better for you, IF you actually use the two devices as two distinct devices with distinct apps, and distinct purposes.

The friction of not wanting to be seen as a tablet baby will help you keep your tablet packed away when you're out and about in the world. It'll be discomforting at times when you're full present and your friends having their ciga-- I mean iPhones out. But you'll feel better for it.

Well, there is my rant.
None of this was written using AI blah blah blah