Screens Vs. Paper

Scott Broyles

BHS journalism

More and more companies are releasing E-Readers or E-Readers apps, and more and more people are leaving books for them, so this raises the question, which is better? Well to answer that we need to go over the advantages and disadvantages of the two.

Let’s start with the new kid on the block, the E-reader, the major advantage of E-readers is that you can store dozens if not hundreds of books of varying size in single lightweight package. Also you can get many novels for free, some of which are classics, and some are just really bad.

Another advantage is that the font size can be changed on E-readers, this is useful to those who need reading glasses, also many E-readers include dictionary tools, which allow you to just highlight a word and get an instant definition.

One more advantage is that E-readers can be waterproof, so if you have a desire to read in a jacuzzi or while scuba diving, you can. In addition to this E-readers can offer you books in other ways, such as E-Books. Also battery life isn’t a major concern considering they can have up to a 6 week long battery charge.

Now the disadvantages of an of E-reader also happen to be a books advantages, books are reliable, they won’t glitch, crack a screen or run out of a battery, there are not really any waterproof books, but a book can survive a 1,000-foot fall. You can’t say the same for a nook.

Another point is if you read a book from 30, 40, or 50 years ago, you can feel the difference, in the ink, the paper, the cover and the font. It feels old, from a different time entirely, and they can help you immerse yourself in the time it was written, where as with an E-reader it will only ever feel like it came from 2013 at best, it’s not really a gateway into the past.

However. something important about books is that they don’t need batteries or wifi ever, this means a book could last decades in a readable condition. This happened to me personally, my grandfather gave me a book he read as a child, and I found a window in to his childhood, and a great story. Where as if you were to hand a nook to your grandchild 60+ years down the road, it will probably be unusable.

Another point to books is the ease of use, hand a book to anyone in the world and they will know how to use, whereas with E-Readers you have to learn how to use them, how long the charge lasts, how to download a book, where to find them, how to read them, how to bookmark them, you essentially have to relearn how to read a book, but for an E-reader.

I personally will always prefer books to E-readers, simply because of the feeling of the book, and the memories associated with that book, now E-readers are definitely more practical for travel or someone who doesn’t like reading and is only doing it for a class, but I read for recreation, so I will stick with my paper and ink.