From Books to EBooks: A Difficult Adjustment for Many

For many readers the idea of the electronic book doesn't satisfy their taste for reading. I can relate because I have never had the urge to read and ebook specifically because it doesn't seem appealing and the brightness of the screens gives me mild headaches over time. Diving further into the issue we can look at something like a painting and digital art. Although both can be appealing to the eye there is something about a hand drawn piece that makes you appreciate the time and effort that was spent making it that a digital piece doesn't seem to explicate. In this Link a study was done to show many individuals prefer paper over and ipad or and other electronic book source for many reasons.

I believe the same thing can be applied to the idea of a book. In our generation and prior to, we grew up with and appreciate for man made objects. Although a book is made by a printing press and isn't hand woven and made individually there is something about it that suggest that its real and that is was made from a human for a human. The idea of an ebook takes away that personal feeling of reading and thrusts you into the new realm of the technology that we live in. Reading has always been an intimate and personal situation for the most part. Flipping the pages; although a small act, was a physical thing and something that a reader can see pleasure in awaiting the surprises of the next page. On an Ebook pressing next page doesn't allow that same sense of gratification because you don't feel as if your doing the act book the technology is doing it for you.

Books are one of our final sources of communication where no electronic means need to exist for you to receive a fulfilling experience and many people see it as a hamper instead of a means to an easier reading experience. Many will argue that an Ebook is smaller is size and gives the ability to carry many books with you at once without the physical strain that carrying many items my bring. But, most people who read for leisure rarely read multiple books at once and might enjoy carrying that book around with them because it gives them a more personal experience while reading. There has been studies that also show that people read Faster with paper books. With all the different lighting situations and trying to adjust while indoors and outdoors can be very time consuming which having a paper book can eliminate by easily just turning a light on or reading outside with comfort.

Many technologies that we use today have made a vast improvement on the quality and efficiency of our life. They allow us to do things faster and easier and to multi-task in ways that weren't thought of even ten years ago. But in our society books have been a fundamental way of communication so its a hard adjustment to think that hand written and printed books might not exist, especially growing up with them.

In the next century children might not actually know what a real book looks like or feels like therefore, they won't have the emotional attachment that takes place when thinking about the intimate and personal relationship with a book but for our generation its just something that we will have to get use to.