Thursday, November 28, 2013

Featured on Random House India Blog: the Future of e-Reading

Image source: www.against-the-grain.com
So, the Random House India blog features a post on 'the future of e-reading' which includes my two pence. Read the complete post here.

Here are my thoughts on the future of e-reading:
For my generation, physical books will continue to play a huge part. I have several books on my Kindle but I am yet to read a single e-book. I prefer reading physical books. I like to think that e-book readers are extremely handy while travelling, when you just need to pick it up and go with all your books inside it. But it never happens that way. Personally, I leave behind the Tablet and take along a few books.


Image source:www.digitalbookworld.com
But yes, for the next generation [my son's], who is going to read e-books from a very young age; e-books, audio books, etc will be a way of life. I am also alarmed at the diminishing attention to a particular activity. In our pursuit to accomplish too many things together [multi-tasking], we are perpetually distracted. Reading needs attention. I am sure, this trend will also impact the act of reading. I wonder if the next generation will find other avenues of reading [ebooks, augmented reality, any new techno-invention] far more in tune with their lifestyle. 

3 comments:

  1. Congrats on featuring on the RHI blog! :)

    Agree with your views. E-readers are handy and convenient sometimes, but the essence of a physical book just cannot have any competition. A book is a book is a book :D

    I use my e-reader for classics, which are in the public domain, and other light reads you can read for a break or just for fun. While traveling. But I'd always prefer a proper book when I have to curl up and read for leisure. :)

    As for the next-gen kids, yes, they'd have their anyway-limited attention spans waning after sometime, especially since there are a lot of distractions that come along with digital means. But even then I think if that is the way things are preferred, they'd at least be reading "something" when they otherwise would not be doing much anyway. And a book would always have its own place at home. And I'm sure readers like you and me and millions more can always inspire the next gen and facilitate their respect and love for books, even if they wouldn't always prefer them.

    Lovely post! ^_^

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    1. Hey Ashna, thank you for dropping by, and congratulations to you too :-)
      I agree with your points completely. The only thing I want my son to pick up from me is passion for books, rest everything he can choose for himself. E-books have really made carrying lots of books easy but I have not read even a single e-book so far. I don't know why!

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  2. I have tons of books on iPad too, and now that iPad ( I have the 1st version) is junk/obsolete kinds because of the all the latest versions lol! Does that happen to books? no! I agree, reading needs attention, and today people (or kids) have very short attention span - not just in reading, but in almost all kind of activities and life in general (eg. Cricket- they had to reinvent it and introduced 20-20, lol!). Have you noticed how soon they lose interest. Reading aids imagination, and it is the most important factor of growing up :)
    Lovely post and congrats on getting featured - that gives you an awesome high :)

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