As you might recall, last month I acquired a library card from my local county library, something that I had not owned for some years. And while I physically checked out a couple of books, the equally interesting benefit to me was the fact that I could get books electronically and read them on my phone.
The interface was surprisingly better than I had thought it would be on my phone: the book was readable and in some cases were far more readily accessible than waiting for the hard copy to arrive and at least in one case, was the only copy that existed. And so I have experimented with reading books on my phone as an alternative form of reading.
That said, having completed what is the initial "trial run", it is not something I think I will do on a regular basis.
The problem is not really with the actual technology - it is easy enough to use and the book downloads on your phone quite readily and is thus available anywhere. The real issue was pushed to my mind during a read of Cal Newport's book A World Without E-mail, a bit ironically about how e-mail has made us less communicative, not more. What I realized, as I held my phone in my hand and read it, is that while I was reading, what I was really doing was training myself to spend more time on my phone.
If anything, I already spend too much time in front of screens. Between work, writing, and the inevitable "just checking" things on my phone, I could easily argue that half of my day is spent looking at a screen of some kind. That strikes me as not being good for a lot of things: my ability to concentrate, my vision, even my sleep patterns.
More importantly perhaps, it disrupts my ability to concentrate.
When reading a physical book one has to concentrate on the book - primarily of course because it is contained in one's hands. It is not easy to just "flick over" to e-mail or social media or a bank account; one has to put down the book and go to the next task. This is true of any physical activity of course: it is the thing that we are doing and cannot be easily turned away from without stopping the activity entirely.
Reading a book on my phone simply enforces my bad habits of multi-tasking, which themselves are exercises in failure. It also reinforces the idea that I can split my attention between things and somehow maintain the same level of concentration.
I have three books currently to read and one in waiting. After that, I believe I will be returning to the "old-fashioned" theory of the physical book on a more frequent basis. It may not be as convenient, but convenience is not really a thing I need at the moment. Focus, concentration, and engagement are.
A past work colleague was an early adopter of the Kindle reader, and frequently extolled the advantages of having a stack of books at hand. Personally though, I found reading on a screen nowhere as easy or satisfying as reading a physical book, especially for a significant length of time. And for some kinds of books, such as technical manuals where one needs to flip around between multiple pages, the physical book and post-its is just so much easier.
ReplyDeleteWill, I tend to agree with you on the "book enjoyment scale" - reading with a screen does not have near the satisfaction of a real book. And the technical manuals are a great point - not just for a reference by visual indicator, but trying to blow up schematics as well.
DeleteGot an offer to subscribe to a digital version of a local newspaper and extended that sub but it's not like reading a physical copy of a newspaper, I miss that "feel". While I have an e-reader I still visit the local library system and checkout.....horrors.....physical books!! Yah, like you stated TB, sometimes there's only one copy and it's checked out so there is a wait, well that's called delayed gratification and anticipation, perhaps a couple of traits more people ought to develop more.....:)
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - completely agree about physical copies of newspapers. It's probably one of the reasons I have an actual looked at an online one for years as it really is just like another website.
DeleteMy library also has physical copies, although it is interesting to see that they are not nearly as plentiful as the digital copies. I am finding I have to pick and choose what I will read; but I do intend to try and get the physical copies where I can. To your point, patience is not a bad thing.
I don't read on my phone, TB, but have used the Kindle now and again. This pretty much eliminates flipping between the book and emails or the like. The reader has some advantages over hardcopy. The Kindle fits easily in my everyday-carry (EDC) pack. The 1100+ pages of Atlas Shrugged, nots'much. That being said, hardcopy doesn't seem to fatigue the eyes as much as the reader, and the hardcopy doesn't need power to use. Also, when you're done with a novel or other "entertainment" literature, you can hand it off to anyone you please.
ReplyDeleteI think both formats have their place. The emphasis should be placed on the actual READING of the book, rather than the format!
Pete - being on the road as I am at the moment does make a really strong argument as you are discussing for the size and weight of the reader versus the book. I can have four volumes for what is effectively a few ounces. But I do find the screen tires my eyes as well, and I do not like building the habit of always staring at the screen. But you're quite correct that the real habit to be built is the reading one, no matter what the medium.
DeleteAlthough I don't enjoy the experience as much as I do a physical book, I would suggest using a Kindle Paperwhite to read ebooks instead of your phone. I find that much like holding a book, it doesn't develop that connection to always have your phone in your hand and I find it much more convenient by not having to "flip" pages quite as often as a phone.
ReplyDeleteMy local library is useless to me. The selection on non-fiction books is quite anemic and if there is one I desire to read, the waiting list is often six months and the time given to read it just two weeks. This can be a problem for someone like me who likes to finish reading one book before starting another and often during 8 months of the year, can't devote a lot of time to reading as I would like. Thus I tend to buy used books that I can read at my leisure and then dispose of them without a great loss of money.
Thanks for the recommendation, Ed. I am bot quite to a Kindle yet but may get there if I want to continue electronic books.
DeleteFor better or worse, a larger library is one advantage of urban living.
It's good that devices for reading books have improved. I suppose it was only a matter of time. I had an old Kindle and kind of liked using it, but only for fiction. Non-fiction deserves a paper copy. Eventually the kindle became outdated and I wasn't up to buying a replacement.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, it works well enough, but reading entire books on the phone screen is just not for me. There is no "pleasure" in the reading of the book, just glowing words on a page.
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