eBooks, Paper Books, And Raising A Child

[woodwardiocom]

So, we own a lot of books. More than our shelves can hold. I'm culling out the less-worthy pretty regularly, but it's going to be a perpetual problem. Of the adults in our household, two have a Kindle app on their phones, and one has an actual Kindle device, so it's not like we don't read eBooks. They certainly take up a lot less space.

But then, there's the Roo.

I think there are certain advantages to paper books over eBooks when it comes to raising a child. To wit:

• A book can be damaged more easily, but it's harder to destroy, cheaper to replace, and you don't lose access to all your books if something should happen to one.
• I would have to get her her own Kindle, whereas books can be shared without an extra purchase.
• Kindles and other eBook readers are a "pull" medium. You decide what you want, pull it in, and read it. Books on shelves, however, have a "push" aspect to them. They show off to you, and you don't need to already know they exist in order to find them. Someone who only experiences pull-media doesn't break out of their comfort zone as much.
• And, yes, I grew up with paper books, and believe in their mystique.

Roo will certainly get a Kindle someday, and it'll probably be within a decade, but I think there's an advantage to the message of, "Here are the things I value, for you to browse and borrow, without intermediaries or accounts."

I welcome comment from those of you with older kids and eReaders...

(Incidentally, Roo has several of her favorite books memorized, can identify about half the alphabet reliably, and I think she has just grokked the notion that those things next to the pictures are "words" made up of "letters", and are meaningful.)

Comments

[jicama]

Elizabeth and I have switched almost entirely to eBooks, but Alice reads paper books, because of your #1 and also just because school deals in paper books. For reading to her I use the Kindle app on my phone sometimes, but mostly still read paper books. Sometimes this is because the book itself is attractive (http://www.foliosociety.com/) and/or illustrated, sometimes it's because we already have a paper copy. I expect she'll have her own Kindle before long.

[jbsegal.livejournal.com]

I agree with this entire post, especially the pull/push//browsing comparison/issue.

I have nothing meaningful to add.

[drwex]

I would never buy my kids a Kindle (or any other dedicated e-reader). They have pads and have tried out e-book apps there, but they also favor physical books. Dedicated devices are, imo, a lose.

Also, e-books suck on approximately every level, but that's sort of a side discussion.

[desiringsubject.livejournal.com]

There seems also to be some research out there that paper reading is developmentally better -- does better things for kidbrains -- than electronic reading. I would be inclined to believe that it is so.

I keep buying electronic books in SPITE of the fact that I have figured out that I only really like them for novel-reading. I keep buying reference or semi-referency books and in spite of the ability to search them (which I love) I find a lose a lot of ease of finding things. Which seems weird, but bookmarks are awesome!

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

Alice does not yet have her own e-reader and is loving paper books at the moment. She does use screens for other things and I expect we'll transition to e-books around the time that her books no longer have pictures.

Jason and I, on the other hand, have completely transitioned to e-books and no longer buy paper books. We get a few each year as gifts, which I'm starting to find slightly annoying, but I appreciate the good intentions.

[archangelbeth]

When she's old enough for an e-reader -- or an iPod Touch -- load it up with the books you want her to be reading, and see what happens. Mine reads a lot on her phone. (Though what she reads, these days, often include things like online gaming logs for Paranoia games and activist blogs... >_> )

[mizarchivist]

I have been a very reluctant convert to tablets (she says typing from one). But if you are in a hurry and want the book right effing now, if it's not one I think I'll be super attached to... Borrowing from the library, then yay. For D., we are strictly paper. Tablets are for games and teevee for him.

[wombattery.livejournal.com]

Whatever virtues they may or may not have, given my kid's remarkable and well-demonstrated ability to lose or damage just about anything with breathtaking speed, I think he's not likely to get an electronic device like that until he can afford to pay for it himself.

[scimon.livejournal.com]

I'm working on a little hack project tomorrow to make book shelf images from ebook collection feeds. The idea being to print them onto boxes that you can keep on bookshelves. This way you get the use of shelves and the ability to show what's in your ebook collection.
(It was a random thought I had based on my few hundred ebooks so far)