Wasn’t I just talking about empty magazine shelves a couple of weeks ago? Well, while magazines seem to be going away, traditional books are not only clinging, but traveling.
That’s the conclusion one is expected to come to according to a press release featured on WhatTheyThink, where a survey among a not-nearly-enough 2400 readers revealed that 65% of readers still prefer good, old-fashioned, traditional books. Leaving aside the fact that this sample size is small enough that it’s a bit like deciding that all of the lightbulbs in this house are broken because the one on the doorway doesn’t light up, it’s still a somewhat surprising discovery.
Reading books on a digital medium, even a dedicated ereader, has its disadvantages. For starters, not being able to just literally throw hundreds of pages to one side to quickly find out that one passage you remember from the beginning of the book is annoying. Bookmarks help somewhat, but some books don’t make it easy to recognize what will be important sometime later in the narrative. Reading a book digitally is a much more linear experience. There’s also the increased eyestrain if you’re reading on an LCD/LED screen over an eink screen. The taller aspect ratio screens on most mobile phones nowadays also bring with them additional scrolling / tapping to get through. And that’s before you get to the main issue of reading an e-book on a mobile device, the constant barrage of notification and popups eternally vying to take your attention away from reading and into their ecosystem, which would be much more profitable for them.
This seems to be the main point for the survey respondents, the press release implies that most of them, as expected, had a bad time with the pandemic. And between the endless meetings and all social interaction being performed through a screen, some nice dead-tree with words on it became an excellent valve for release and relaxation. Though I must confess I’m not part of the 63% that said they read more during the pandemic. My goodreads account confirms it as the period on which I’ve read less since I decided to keep a sort of record over these things.
It’s much better now, what without having to have a constant reminder of the world ending every time you turned anywhere and an emptier house where one can enjoy those small moments of solace. Ever since I got a kindle, I also shunned reading ebooks on anything else. And yes, I prefer the paper version when possible.
Whenever I read stuff like these, I am just reminded of visiting a bookstore with a rather older friend. One who occasionally is addled with that rot that affects all older people and will no doubt affect you as they age. And that day at the bookstore it flared up in the best possible way, as their eyes lit up looking at a sizable young population perusing the shelves and picking up books . After a while, they turned to me and discreetly whispered “I thought kids didn’t read anymore”, in a tone that seemed picked to be as undisturbing as possible, that if it was an illusion it wouldn’t be displayed by questioning it.
Rest assured they do read. At most, they simply don’t read the things you did on the places you read.
