E-books

Sacrifices For Simplicity

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Easy!’ by Grant Tarrant

By Caleb Markle

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Roses’ by Manel Zaera

New technology is being created constantly as the industry thrives (Doucette).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Decay’ by Jeroen Van Nieuwenhove

But as technology thrives will the children suffer?

Consumers are becoming media agnostic where they don’t think of differences between types of media (Alter).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Social Media’ by Sean MacEntee

This has led to the rise of E-books and other alternate ways of consuming literature (Alter).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘ebook’ by Daniel Sancho

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Thinking’ by Creative Ignition

Without thinking about the type of media is it reasonable to expect people will think of the consequences of the type they consume?

Oftentimes people simply ignore the consequences.

Photo Source: Flickr ‘gabriel’ by Sam Stanton

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Children’ by Moin Uddin

For proper childhood development people need cognitive stimulation and to discuss things with their parents (Korat).

The cognitive stimulation from feeling a book and turning the pages is being lost with e-books (Matrix).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Feel’ by Nick Harris

Children are developing slower and learning less as e-books become more common and displace paper copies (Jha).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Lost’ by Freaktograpy

This is partly due to the fact that turning the pages of a book aid in creating a mental map of the text in question (Jabr).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Physical Map of Asia’ by Eric Fischer

Unfortunately, there are more causes.

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Tears’ by Fips

Parents talk to their kids less about important topics affecting their lives (Korat).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Parents’ by Caitlin Childs

Instead parents talk about insignificant things such as buttons and games in the e-book (Korat).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Cards’ by CeresB

Children benefit significantly when their parents talk to them about topics that go beyond the book (Korat).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Brotherly’ by Darren Johnson

Not only do children miss out on talking to their parents, but they miss out on the story.

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Content low’ by Sean MacEntee

Research has shown that games and other interactive elements in e-books distract children and prevent them from remembering as much of the story (Jong).

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Distractions’ by Zak Cannon

E-books

Concluding Thoughts

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Easy!’ by Grant Tarrant

Many Sacrifices

The sacrifices made in the name of simplicity are clearly apparent. Children remember less of the story, miss out on stimulus and gain less valuable insight from their parents.

Photo Source: Flickr ‘Lost’ by Amr Tahtawi

We can only hope there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Works Cited

Alter, Alexandra. "The New Explosion in Audio Books." Wall Street Journal 1 August 2013.

Doucette, Sara. Technology is always evolving. 20 February 2015. 2 March 2017. <https://www.wazoku.com/technology-is-always-evolving/>.

Jabr, Ferris. "The Reading Brain in the Digital Age: The Science of Paper versus Screens." Scientific American (2013). Document.

Jha, Alok. Childhood stimulation key to brain development, study finds. 14 October 2012. Document. 28 February 2017.

Jong, Maria T. de. "Quality of Book-Reading Matters for Emergent Readers: An Experiment." Journal of Educational Psychology (2002): 10. Document.

Korat, Ofra. "How New Technology Influences Parent—child Interaction: The Case of e-book Reading." First Language May 2010: 15. Document.

Matrix, Sidneyeve. "Module 03 Lecture 01 Part 1." Kingston, 7 February 2017. Lecture.