In today’s day and age, technology is constantly advancing and changing the world around us. Along with this change, however, comes controversy on whether or not specific technological advancements are actually harmful to our society, rather than beneficial. A prime example of this disagreement can be seen in the development of electronic books and Kindles. Many people believe that the development of e-books benefits our society by appealing to tech-savvy people who do not normally read, while others argue that e-books are too distracting and ultimately lower one’s comprehension of the text.
In his article “The Kindle”, E-book critic T. David Gordon discusses his belief that real books are superior to e-books for those that love reading. Gordon believes that e-books and their access to apps, internet, and social media are overall too distracting to prove beneficial as a reading platform. Along with this, Gordon believes that e-books do not offer the same opportunity to engage with the text as real books do, specifically because of the inability to physically write on and annotate the text. On the other hand, people like Clive Thompson believe that reading books using an iPhone or Kindle can be just as beneficial as reading from a real book.
In Thompson’s article “Reading War and Peace on my iPhone”, he tells the story of his personal experience of reading the entire “War and Peace” novel using solely his iPhone. He discusses that the aforementioned distractions that come along with reading from an e-book can be easily ignored by simply disabling any notifications on the device. Along with this, he also mentions that e-readers do in fact allow readers to interact with the text through virtual annotating, but admits that it is more limited than physically writing in a book.
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As a whole, Thompson claims that his reading experience on an e-book was just as beneficial as it would have been on a regular book, despite their many differences. While Gordon argues that reading real books is superior to e-books for those that love reading, and Thompson argues that reading from an e-book is at least just as beneficial as reading from a real book, the real question is: how do we determine which reading method is more beneficial for specific people? Do we base it off of their ability to resist distractions and their preference of physical versus virtual annotations?
In Gordon’s “The Kindle”, he argues his belief that reading a real book is more beneficial than reading from an e-book for those that love reading. He supports this claim by highlighting the many attributes of a Kindle that he views as disadvantages, and by explaining why he views them that way. Specifically, Gordon believes that Kindles are merely a business scheme created to appeal to people who don’t love to read, intending for people to purchase them with the false impression that they will suddenly enjoy reading because it’s being done on a different platform. Gordon also mentions the fact that e-books do not allow readers to engage with the text in the same way real books allow them to. He argues that physically writing on the text is beneficial to the reading process because it allows readers to interact with the text more. While he does acknowledge that some e-books have programs that allow readers to annotate the text, he argues that these programs are far more limited than writing in a real book, and as a result cause annotating in a real book to be more beneficial.
Along with this, Gordon argues that Kindles are far more distracting than physical books due to their access to internet, apps, and social media. He claims that since real books don’t have any built-in distractions, they are automatically superior to the distraction-filled e-book. As a whole, Gordon believes that if one truly loves reading, then utilizing a real book rather than a Kindle will be a more beneficial and effective means of reading. Though Gordon makes compelling arguments supporting this belief, only by discovering and understanding each individual’s ability to resist distractions as well as their annotating preferences will we be able to truly identify which reading platform would be more beneficial to use. In Gordon’s case, rather than basing it off of whether or not they love to read or not, reading from a real book would be more beneficial only if the reader both gets easily distracted and benefits from physically writing their annotations onto the text.
In Thompson’s “Reading War and Peace on my iPhone”, Thompson discusses his experience of reading the “War and Peace” novel entirely on his iPhone, and explains why he feels that reading from an e-book can be just as beneficial as reading from a real book. First, Thompson discusses how an e-book’s access to internet and apps actually benefitted his understanding of the text rather than distracting from him it. He claims that his internet access allowed him to look up any concepts or words mentioned in the novel that he did not understand, which is something that he would not have had the chance to do if he were using a physical novel. Along with this, he claims that though e-books expose readers to on-screen notifications, there are ways to disable them which greatly decrease the reader’s exposure to electronic distractions.
As a whole, Thompson argues that an e-book’s access to internet and social media is actually more beneficial to the reading process than it is distracting. Further on, Thompson discusses the ability to annotate e-books through the use of newly developed programs. He claims that typing these annotations is the equivalent to writing in a book, and that it is a sufficient means of interacting with the text. Though he argues that reading from an e-book can be just as beneficial as reading from a real book, it is important to establish and understand exactly when it would be just as beneficial. In Thompson’s case, reading from an e-book would be just as beneficial as reading from a real book only if the reader is able to easily resist distractions as well as if they feel they benefit at least as equally from virtual annotations as they do from physical ones.
Despite their wildly opposing views, there are in fact some ways in which Thompson and Gordon share common beliefs regarding the reading process. Though they disagree on which method of annotating is more beneficial, they both agree that the concept of annotating is an important and useful tool within the reading process. Along with this, it is also true that both author’s believe that distractions are harmful to those trying to read. Though Thompson does not feel that the exposure to distractions when using e-books is too distracting, he, as well as Gordon, both admit that distractions as a whole are harmful to readers. All in all, it is evident that both author’s only want the best for readers, despite having different views on exactly which reading platform can provide that.
Since the real question is to ask how we determine which reading method is more beneficial for specific people, we would need to look at individuals and their specific preferences opposed to looking at whether or not they love to read. A good solution to this issue would be to take into account the reader’s ability to resist distractions as well as their preference (if any) of physical annotations versus virtual ones. For example, if an individual were unable to easily resist distractions and preferred to write their annotations, then the obvious reading platform they should use is a real book. This solution satisfies Gordon’s belief because a real book would not expose readers to the same potential distractions as an e-book would, as well as because the reader would not have the ability to physically write their annotations onto an e-book.
On the other hand, if a reader is able to easily resist distractions as well as effectively annotate through e-book programs, then either platform would suffice, being that the e-book platform will then be at least as beneficial to them as a real book would. This solution satisfies Thompson’s belief because in this situation, the distractions that come along with an e-book would not effect the reader, and because the reader would reap equal benefits from virtual annotations as they would from physical ones. All in all, we need to stop determining the optimal reading platform for people by looking at their love of reading, but instead we need to determine it by looking at their individual preferences and abilities related to the reading process.
Works Cited
- Thompson, Clive. “Reading War and Peace on My IPhone.” BOOK RIOT, BOOK RIOT, 23 June 2015, br5.bookriot.com/quarterly/bkr07/amp/.
- Gordon, T David. The Kindle (and Its Cousins). T. David Gordon, www.tdgordon.net/media_ecology/the-kindle.doc.
