So I can now instead say that I don't like reading PDFs or scans on Google Books (despite their convenience) but I will still probably never buy an e-reader. I think I've already got all the screens I can handle.
I use digitized books and articles all the time for school, mostly because it saves time and paper and printer money! I hate doing it though. The screen is too bright, my contacts dry out, I get headaches, I don't pay attention long. Basically, I have terrible vision and I don't like focusing intently on a screen for too long. In addition to that, I'm stuck staring at a screen all day for work so I definitely associate reading digital books with work and school. Outside of digitized texts, I mostly just read short texts online (news articles, social media). Funnily enough, if I spend a few hours reading articles online I kind of feel like I wasted my time but if I spent the same amount of time reading a print book or flipping through a magazine, I feel productive. Screens still feel kind of like a constraint to me.
I usually have one or two print books on the go for pleasure reading. If I'm reading something that isn't portable, I'll pick out a smaller book and carry that with me for flights, waiting rooms, etc. I can read for longer, I don't lose my place or re-read lines, and I can write on or dog-ear pages I want to come back to. The best part is, I can read a print book in all my blind glory, without contact lenses or comically thick glasses! I can barely see my laptop screen without contacts and if I'm at the end of a 12 hour day, it really is not a pleasurable experience in any sense.
I also occasionally borrow digital audiobooks from the Toronto Public Library and listen to them on the subway or while I'm walking. Most of the time, I'm only passively engaged with this format so I don't think it's the best way for me to interact with a text but it's still entertaining.
Bibliography:
Simon Rowberry, "Ebookness," Convergence: the International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies. July 1 2015. http://con.sagepub.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/content/early/2015/06/30/1354856515592509.full.pdf+html
Hi Christine,
ReplyDeleteI feel your pain when it comes to poor eye-sight and reading on a digital device! After spending all day working on my computer, my eyes twitch, my vision blurs, and I get mind-numbing headaches. I think it's interesting that you have made the decision to avoid reading e-books or digital facsimiles, but are willing to listen to audio-books. The feeling of productivity your feel when reading a physical book in comparison to articles online is something that hasn't occurred to me, but now that you point it out, may have been something I have experienced but have been unable to articulate. I'm curious why some of us feel like this. Is it because in print books we can physically mark our progress, noticing when one side of the book becomes thicket than the other? Or have we attributed some kind of value to online newspaper articles and social media, and found them less than physical books? This tension between digital and printed materials is interested, as is our 'feelings' that we attribute to them.
I completely agree with your sentiment towards reading digital texts for the purpose of school! It saves time and money, and as grad students when you have to read what feels like a thousand articles on the regular, you definitely have to take time and money-saving methods in to consideration.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of digital texts having a strain on your eye, I've been told by an employee at Chapters that an e-reader's screen is a bit different from a computer screen to lessen the strain on the eyes. I'm not entirely convinced that's true, but something to maybe look into in the future?
My favourite is when you're reading and the floaters in your eyes pop up because you're reading on a screen and they track with the lines of your text. It's the worst.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in your discussion of audiobooks--I find that I more fully engage with the text when I concentrate on audiobooks rather than when I read the print book. Thus, I get a better enjoyment of something like Austen, where you need to be immersed in her prose to enjoy it, when I'm listening.
Julia, I understand the enhanced experience that you're talking about for certain audiobooks. I've listened to two Dickens novels and it's easier to appreciate the humour in them when you're listening to a conversation rather than sifting through a million pages. On the other hand, the weeks I spent listening to Mansfield Park is probably one of the most annoying things that's happened to me in recent years. Since the consensus on the blog seems to be mostly disinterest in e-books, I think it would be really interesting to read about the history of audiobooks and how they were received and became normalized over time.
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