My E-Reader

Yes my friends, that commotion you hear, that sense if impending doom you feel, that is the end of the world quickly approaching. Yes, I did it. It is my fault. I, Taniya Barrows, acquired an e-reader! I don’t know how much time we all have left, but this has to be one of the signs of the approaching apocalypse.

Okay, the doomsday joking aside, the truth is I did actually buy an e-reader. Through a random set of circumstances, my husband and I found ourselves in a large electronics store holding a hefty gift card trying to figure out how to spend it. Our planned purchase of a practical household appliance turned out to not be so practical upon closer inspection. So now what? We have all this money to spend but it has to be spent here, in this store. We do not need that many DVDs, CDs or video games, our computer needs are satisfied and my husband just got his major electronics purchase with the bulk of the gift card. So once again I ask, now what? Wandering the store, with two overly tired and antsy small children in tow, I found myself repeatedly returning to the e-reader section. After far too much time, and way too much wrestling with my logic and reason, I finally conceded, and sold my soul. My husband had his large electronic toy and now I had mine. The kids were just happy to be heading home.

Under normal circumstances, I would have never purchased an e-reader of any kind. I honestly do not see the point of the device, and I’m weary of its impact on both the book industry and our society as a whole. How, I constantly ask, can an electronic device replace the printed and bound book? A book will never need updated software to work properly. A book will never have to be repurchased in the latest format in order to access its content. A book will never interfere with the operation of an airplane. A book can be personalized and given as an immensely sentimental gift. A book can be handed down through generations as an heirloom. A book can be loaned, borrowed or randomly gifted to a stranger with no strings attached. A book can be signed by its author. A book can be a magnificent piece of art that must be held to be fully appreciated. A book can be a magical shared experience between you and a child just learning to read. And most importantly, a book does not need its battery recharged right when you get to the most pivotal point of the story!

And yet, I bought an e-reader. . .

In the end, my reasoning was simple and practical: if I am to re-enter the bookselling industry, it behooves me greatly to fully understand this powerful new device. The world of bookselling has been rocked to its core by the digital age. Reading is declining and bookstores are closing their doors all across the country, probably even the world. If I am to exist at all within this new realm of bookselling, I need to know as much as I can about this Pandora’s Box.

So what do I think after my first weekend with this contraption? I still have a hard time with its existence, and there is no way anyone will ever convince me it is better than reading an actual book. But I do concede that the e-reader can have a useful time and place. For instance, I have an American friend living in Brussels. She told me that it is challenging, and expense, to find English language books over there. For a voracious reader, such as herself, I can see that as a form of torture. Thus, her e-reader allows her access to the reading opportunities I know she truly enjoys, and would not otherwise encounter.

After reading one full e-book, and spending the weekend tinkering with this thing, I have begun figuring out how I will use it. When it comes to reading of an e-book, the device allows you to read a story, but you are not reading a book; far too much of the book reading experience is missing. For instance, upon reaching it, I was unable to tell I had actually finished reading the last page because all the publishing content was listed last. So I turned the page, or rather pushed the button to advance in the story, only to find HarperCollins telling me their various international addresses. I was left with a pseudo-sense of satisfaction of having finished reading a story and confusion over whether or not I had just finished it. While I will continue reading e-books on my new device, as I said, it behooves me to do so, I will be sure to keep it to books I don’t expect to relish or wish to pass on to my kids. I’ll keep it to my guilty pleasure books: short, formulaic novels with superficial character. Yes, I am a bit of a book snob, but then again I’m a literature major for a reason.

Alright, I acknowledge that I’m an old fashioned girl, in love with her paper, glue and dustcovers, talking smack about the new-fangled device that has recently hit the market and become popular with “the kids these days.” And yes, given enough time, I may even - begrudgingly - end up really liking this thing. But I try to give credit when credit’s due, and I can see two immensely value benefits of the e-reader.

The first is the blog. I hate reading blogs (insert irony here as I type away at my own blog entry). Not so much because of what they are or what they say, but because they require my computer to read and enjoy them. I have a friend who is a talented author who maintains an interesting and thought provoking blog, but I hate reading it only because it requires a computer screen. With the new “E-Ink” technology of these new e-readers, and the internet access they come complete with, I can now read and follow my friend’s blog, and seek out the many others I’ve longed to peruse, without the confinement of my computer screen. Plus, it seems fitting to read these “web logs” on an electronic-reader. The two seem destined for each other, and I’ll confess I’m excited about this new discovery.

The second benefit is one I find both hopeful and tragic. Our current generation of young people, those currently in high school and just barely entering their twenties, are a frightening conundrum for those of us in the older generations; even for me, and I’m just slightly older. This younger generation is the first one being raised solely within this digital age we now live in. These are the kids living so much of their lives with far too many distractions. There is an ongoing debate over whether or not it is a good thing to multi-task to the extent this younger generation is doing. To be texting, chatting online, Twittering, Facebooking, YouTube watching and doing homework all at the same time has taken a toll on our youth. It is also this youth that has been showing severe declines in reading over the past decade. I can’t help but ask, if our digitally addicted youth can be given a digital device that will entice them to read more, is that device truly a bad idea? That is a rather loaded question, and I don’t know the answer, but it is part of the debate that should at least be considered.

So my e-reader may not exactly be the root of all evil, and perhaps I didn’t really sell my soul. I do hope that this experience will help me find a way to positively impact the whole e-reader revolution and debate. Following trends in technological evolution, I find it hard to believe this device will ever go away. But perhaps we can find a way to peaceable co-exist with it without destroying that sacred institution known as the bookstore, and hopefully use it as a bridge back into the world of the book that far too many people have abandoned for digital devices.