Absent amongst crowded beaches are sandy romance novels. Silent libraries hold dusty dystopian novels, freshly printed-but never read. Instead, many young faces are immersed in their e-readers, Kindles, and cell phones that hold other digital books.
Growing up I never thought twice about spending my birthday money on books. Hardcover, paperback, it didn’t matter. To be able to feel the pages was powerful. It was as if I could soak up every ounce of emotion from the ink. Whenever something wonderful happened, I could always hold the book close to my chest in joy.
According to a Vision Source blog on Eye Health Awareness, the pixels present in computer screens and cell phones make it harder for our eyes to focus. There is also a concern regarding the glare from the screens, which can overwork and weaken your eyes over time. Traditional paper books cause less strain on our eyesight.
Light from electronic devices such as e-readers and Kindles can negatively impact your sleep and overall health. A study done by Harvard Medical School researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital shows that “blue light suppresses melatonin, impacts the circadian clock and increases alertness.” If the internal rhythm of sleep is interrupted by an outside environment, it can negatively affect the secretion of melatonin and can decrease sleepiness. Melatonin, a hormone that regulates sleep, is important to a person’s sleep and wakefulness. Limiting the secretion of melatonin can raise the risks of cancer.
One advantage of buying a paper book over a digital one is availability. Once you purchase a book, it’s yours forever. A digital book purchased on an e-reader or Kindle doesn’t have the same lifespan, as they can be erased from a device. Decades from now, that paper book will still be readable, but digital books are unreliable. One day the digital book you have saved on an e-reader or Kindle may not be compatible with the future’s different technology.
Paper books can tolerate much more damage than a piece of technology. You can dog-ear the pages, highlight favored phrases, and bring them to parks and beaches. You can spill coffee, crumbs, and chocolate, but still enjoy their pages (for the most part). The probability of a device working after such spills and misuse is significantly lower. Over time, the wear and tear on a book leave it used and loved, but still readable. Digital books just don’t have the same type of durability.
The Huffington Post explains in an article written by The National Book Review that reading physical books helps build a reading community. With physical books, everyone gets an idea of what community members enjoy and are thinking about, but “a bus full of people reading e-books is just a lot of people staring at devices.”
Whenever I sit down with a traditional paper book, whether it be in a public place or not, there is often an atmosphere of community among friends, or strangers. A sense of bonding arises from simple conversations, “what are you reading” or “I love that book, too.” When I am on my phone or computer, I am rarely asked what I am doing. People will hardly bother with a teenager doing what every other teenager is doing.
Being able to grasp the pages of a paper book and truly feel the magic emanating from the ink is like no other feeling in this world. Nothing digital will ever replace the unique happiness that comes from stepping inside a bookstore. It will always be enough of a reason for me to read literature how it was meant to be enjoyed.
Despite the convenience of carrying a device that can hold more than one book at a time, the pros of reading a paper book outweigh the cons, proving their superiority to digital books.
