I mean...why bother reading when there are so many technological gadgets and games around to keep our minds from actually thinking and experiencing the real world. In a way, what I am saying is a bit hypocritical, since I am writing this internet blog, but I am mostly referring to things like the iPhone and iPad. For me, it is still freeing to travel places and not have immediate access to my email or Facebook, and also exciting, as I look forward to seeing what I've missed. Before my fiance had his iPhone, we used to send each other cute little Facebook messages and I knew he would wake up to a message from me wishing him a great day. I can't do those things anymore because his phone is always on him, and I can't send him anything without it being received on the spot.
I'm afraid of all of this advancing technology, and not just because I've seen the Terminator movies. I'm afraid for my books! There is something so special about holding a book in my hands. I love the excitement that comes with opening a book for the first time, and the accomplishment that I feel when I turn the last page. I could (and have) spend hours at a bookstore or library, just looking at all the books, deciding on what story to get lost in. I have never paid for a book that I couldn't hold in my hands. Paying money to read a book on an iPad just boggles me, and makes me sad. And I have absolutely no desire to read a book on a phone.
Now, I'm not against technology. I love my laptop, and staying connected with people on Facebook. And I have definitely played addicting games on my fiance's iPhone. But I like being able to leave those things at home. And instead of burning brain cells for hours on end looking at a tiny phone screen and flinging birds at things...I pick up a book. And I can only hope that that will always be my first choice.
I agree completely! While I think kindles & what have you are really neat, I don't think I would want to own one. I like the feeling of actually holding a book, turning the pages, the smell of new books...I just recently read the Harry Potter books for the first time & I can't imagine reading them on some kind of technology. They're such big books (something like 4,000 pages in total) and I felt so accomplished when I was finished!! Books becoming completely obsolete is a very scary thought. :(
ReplyDeleteThis is how I feel about e-books ... there is nothing attractive about a bookshelf with a kindle on it. But a bookshelf filled with books ... really says a lot about a person
ReplyDelete-- Brooke
Erin: I know! Opening a Harry Potter book is like jumping into a fantasy world. I love the smell of books, how they feel, knowing it was intended to be read this way. J.K. Rowling can't have book signings with Kindles!
ReplyDeleteBrooke: That is totally true. When you wrote that, all I could think about is a huge bookcase with multiple shelves and just one Kindle sitting in it. I remember a few of us reading your books in camp, and if all of them were only on one Kindle, we would never have been able to share.