Reading In a Digitized World

I was recently reading this article on the BBC. As I read the article (on my computer screen), I thought to myself, "Wow. That's amazing. Literally everything can be read in a digital format these days. I should write about this... on my digital journal (blog)." I am truly astounded by the pace at which digitization is moving. With each passing year, more newspapers are canceling their print editions, more publishers convert texts to e-book format, and more devices for accessing digitized materials are being developed. Some of these devices are pretty cool, to say the least. (Ever heard of the Kindle?)

Digitizing print is extremely convenient. Think of all the paper, space, and shipping costs we can save by reading digital books, digital newspapers, and digital magazines. Many university students don't really need to carry a bookbag anymore. All they need is a laptop. More than one of my classes last semester had a digital edition of the class textbook, which could be accessed on the Internet. I could literally have my textbook with me anywhere on campus--all it took to read my assignments was a few mouse-clicks. It doesn't get much simpler than that!

As convenient as all of this digitization is, I still find myself extremely attached to the feeling of holding a book in my hand and turning the pages one by one. There's just something about the look and feel of ink on paper that I just can't find anywhere else. Even though I have a blog, a Facebook, multiple email accounts, etc., I still keep a handwritten journal. (And that journal gets a lot more attention than this blog does, I can tell you that.) My dad teases me for being weirded out by the concept of reading from the screen of a cell phone. I know it's irrational to be put off by the thought of reading Othello on an iPhone, but it's true--I would rather carry around the printed edition, even if that means I'll have to use a bookmark, and a real pen if I want to take notes on the text. I know that means I'll have to carry a bigger purse, that I'll have to flip through pages if I want to find a specific line in the play (instead of doing a keyword search), that I might even get a paper cut, etc. but I am willing to make all of those sacrifices.

I'll try and find some explanation for my irrational attachment to printed books. I'll use Shakespeare as an example. (If I use Shakespeare, I will sound smart, thus removing some of your power to dispute me via digitized comments on this post. Bahaha.) One of the most exciting things about Shakespeare (and plays in general) in Elizabethan England was the fact that you could go to the printer's shop, hand over your money, and get your very own copy of Hamlet or Henry V or whatever was playing in the Globe. That copy was yours--bound as a folio or quarto--and you could take it home and read it with your family. You could literally hold someone's brainchild in your hands. There was a literal connection between you, the literary work, and the author of that work. The same thing is possible today. I know that, technically, holding an iPhone with the CompleteWorksOfShakespeare App is kind of the same, but really... it's not. It's the iPhone you care about and pay attention to, not the Shakespeare. A printed book is miles closer to the original format of whatever book you're reading, whether it's or Dracula or Goodnight Moon. And the dog-eared pages, scratched cover, and broken binding of your favorite book are things that you can't find in an e-book. I write my name in every book I buy, so I literally have a personal library of books that I care about. It just wouldn't feel the same to tag "JessicaCroft" onto TheCountOfMonteCristo.pdf . Nope.

So yes, my argument for printed books is mostly sentimental, barely based in the importance of historical connection and a return to tradition.... As great as it is to not have to run home to get my psychology book, because I can find it on the Internet, and as great as it is to Facebook and blog with my buddies, nothing will ever be able to beat the solid surety of paper and ink.