Nathan, Amen to dumbing down among the Witnesses! Don't get too used to any rule b/c it will change with time or caprice. There is no doubt that the posession of an iPad creates divisions based on class status. So much of America's answer is to dumb down. We are a culture of the ignorant.
When I was young, I learned of a culture where Shakespeare and other classics were celebrated, education was a good and moral thing, that prepared citizens for a role in society. Yet in the ghetto and at the KH, ignorance was applauded. One needed good grades to make a good show for the Witnesses yet pity you if you were proud of your achievement.
These devices are important to the future. Literate people use them. Perhaps sister on disability but can pioneer up steep hills stumbled me with her chosen poverty. People laugh at my vocabulary which is not remarkable yet my mother would punish me if I ever showed disrespect by laughing at those who cannot pronounce standard English.
I have a basic Northern European name. Generations of Americans, British, French, and others used my name. Since I moved back to the ghetto, people find it strange and funny. If I laughed at their names, I would likely be beat up.