Obama slams iPad as a distraction

US president Barack Obama has criticised a range of tech gadgets, saying the Apple iPad can help distract people from “empowerment”.

In a commencement address at Hampton University, Obama said graduates should learn to be “mentors within their communities” and strive for academic achievement.

He also mentioned tech giant Apple. In the context of warning against distractions, he said the age of 24-hour can often serve as a deterrent to achieving greatness.

“With iPods and iPads; Xboxes and PlayStations; information becomes a distraction, a diversion, a form of entertainment, rather than a tool of empowerment. All of this is not only putting new pressures on you; it is putting new pressures on our country and on our democracy,” he said.

Obama has spoken out against abuse of technology previously, saying younger people should be more willing to drop a gadget and instead read a book and focus on studies.