My family is embracing e-books, and it only took packing and carrying myriad boxes of books during a recent move to convince us to make the change toward convenience. E-books are easy, they don’t collect dust, and they don’t need to be boxed up when moving.
We’re not alone in our decision to leave behind print newspapers, magazines, and now books. The Pew Research Center found earlier this year that four times more people read an e-book on a typical day than two years ago, and that number will be increasing as more people acquire iPads and become comfortable reading on smaller smartphone screens.
My connection to paper books was that, much with newspapers, I liked the feel of turning a paper page, and I like having books visible and easily accessible. After starting to read news online, I found newsprint dirty, and I no longer cared about experiencing the paper feeling with books either.
Paper books were the best method of discovery, and I worried about losing that. I liked that my kids would have a book catch their eye as they walked past our bookshelves. Spontaneous exposure encourages their reading, and we strive to replicate the same browsing experience at Bookboard. For my kids, seeing an e-book cover is the same as seeing it in paper. What I didn’t expect is how much they’d prefer reading electronically. At first there may be a novelty in reading on an iPad, I thought, but the real reason they use it is that they don’t have the attachment to paper books that I do. There is no transition from paper to electronic, for them. They gravitate toward the most convenient solution, which is e-books.
My kids have taken to Bookboard in a big way. They love to browse books and open up whichever ones strike them in the moment. The next time I consider buying a paper book, I’ll first ask myself if I want the book enough to pack it up and move it. ?I can’t imagine many will pass the test.
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