My son is heavily into his iPod Touch; games, internet, homework research, video and music are activities he regularly undertakes with it and he wouldn’t swap it for the world.
My son is also into reading and loves The Famous Five in particular- his appetite for reading is a pleasure to see, as it would be for any parent, but he is adamant that he will not read eBooks. He is 9 years old and when I commented to him the other day that you can buy books to read on the iPod, his reaction was “I like to read real books. Screens hurt my eyes after a while and I like the feel of a book.” He then went into a typical 9 year old description of how the “book is there in my hand” and how “an eBook is just words on a screen”.
It is a fascinating insight into the mind of a child who has not had many years enjoying the feel of real books, and it highlighted the stark differences between paper books and their digital equivalents. Is it built inside us to prefer reading on paper? The story can be extended by the book cover, the typeface and most importantly the fact that it is an object which is often times desirable to look at and hold.
It is different than music- when you listen to a song you don’t stare at your CD player or even the turntable if you can remember back that far; you simply listen to the music. When reading a book you turn the pages, you hold it and you immerse yourself into the experience. It seems that my son has already discovered this without even knowing it.
Publishers and software developers are doing their best to make the eBook feel more alive, but if a 9 year old child who is into technology in a big way still prefers the tradition book form what chance do they have?
Editor’s Note: This is reprinted, with permission, from one of the original pda blogs on the net – pda-247. I remember when Shaun started it up and it is great that it is still running. PB
I don’t think this is a function of age, but rather a personal choice. Some folks like paper books. Also, if your son has been reading on an iTouch screen, he’s not familiar with e-ink and how much easier it is on the eyes than LCD.
I do think some (but not all) of the folks who insist they could never read ebooks have never tried it and might change their minds if they did, especially when packing reading material for a vacation.
I’m someone who has always liked reading and I read a lot. I’m 63 so that’s a lot of years reading print books. Once I got my Kindle–there was no going back. I much prefer reading on a reader. I find the reading experience on my reader far superior to print books.
I’m wondering if the 9 year olds preference has to do with the fact that because he spends so much time with electronic devices, reading a print book is a restful break.
Also I forgot to add that young children generally have a preference for bigger print, the print on a Touch would be very small.
Seriously, get him a real ereader like the Kindle. I bet he will change his mind.
When he grows up and real estate prices have doubled again or more, and he has to buy his own books – and can only afford to rent a shoebox – where will he put ’em? 🙂
Basing a conclusion on the anecdotal opinions of one nine year old is hardly a scientific approach and not worthy of much consideration.
Children are conservative and fear change. I remember resisting the introduction of colored sheets (does this date me?) I don’t think this one example has much to say about the viability of our industry.
Rob Preece
Publisher
On the other hand, my mate prefers that I read on my Kindle in bed because it wakes her up when I turn pages on a Hard Cover book, but not with the little flick of the button on the Kindle. Perhaps when he gets old enough to have to consider those around him he may make a different decision?
Hmm. My NOOK doesn’t hurt my eyes, and I hold it in my hand. It feels kind of like a book, but less unwieldy. I expect that Kindle, Sony, and the other E-Ink readers give much the same experience.
I would never even try to read a full book on my computer screen. I’ve read dozens of them on my e-reader. There is a reason that people are paying fairly big bucks for dedicated e-reader devices.
first – I loved the fabulous 5 – your son has good taste.
second – as and e-publisher, I’m biased towards e-books.
third – I don’t try to talk my 77 year out mother other of the same response, but my experience has been that once people try the e-reader they are hooked. For example my 79 year old father.
thanks for the post.
Before jumping into the ereader market, I used to say things like I can’t imagine not holding a physical book or reading from an electronic screen. Fact is that now that I have my ereader I’ve learned the delivery system makes no difference, I just get lost in the act of reading and forget whether I’m reading a pbook or an ebook.
In fact, I now prefer ebooks because carrying around my PocketBook 360 is so much easier than lugging around a hardcover!
Eventually colour e-ink will be cheap enough that you’ll be able to buy e-ink covers for your reader (that can be replaced for $10 or so when they get too scratched up) so you can display the cover of the book you’re reading on the outside. Also, you’ll be able to buy “themes” for popular books – font and art packs. I have an annotated hard cover hobbit, with art from all the international editions. Imagine when you can apply a theme to a book to enhance the “feel” the way you like it. Imagine having the choice to apply any of the art treatments designed over the years for the Lord of the Rings? Hundreds of illustrations included.