I noticed a severe shift in technology when my cousin, who is nine years younger than me, received that same exact digital camera I did for Christmas, a couple of years ago. At first I had an immature reaction caused by only-child-syndrome, so I naturally whined to my aunt, who handed out these gifts, that it wasn’t fair that I received my first digital camera at nineteen years old, and a ten year old got the same exact thing! Anyway, that’s really besides the point…However, my aunt did point out to me that times have changed and that kids no longer want dolls or toy cars, they want cameras, video games, and iPods. This all made me start to wonder, what has occurred that technology is so prevalent in the lives of today’s children?
Today, it seems that right out of the womb, children are set in front of a computer and taught how to use it. Kids are somehow born innately attached and attuned to technological things that were completely foreign to the generation before them. Even in this new age, fundamental skills might be lost due to these gadgets, especially since the introduction of E-readers, such as the Kindle, Nook, and iPad.
Video games and iPods are one thing, but to digitize a book is a complete other. I don’t know if it’s just me being an English nerd, but I love books! I love reading them and, even, collecting them. I cannot image a world where people would no longer be relishing in cracking a binding of a new, or old, book, only for it to be replaced with a touch of a button.
I guess it could also be a fear that the children of the world are just going to become fatter and stupider than they already are. However, if this is the only way to get them to read, then more power to the E-reader! But I also think losing the physicality of holding a book in your hands will completely deter kids from reading. Take the iPad for example: it does way more than just let you read books electronically, so if a child is given that, will they be reading or playing a game or surfing the web? It will mostly likely be one of the latter.
Furthermore, now all of the companies that produce E-readers are in fierce competition with each other. They are trying to make the lightest, cheapest, fastest e-reader they can. Each one has its own flaw; the Nook having a “lag” in page turning, the iPad doesn’t have a big enough book selection, because of everything else it can do, and Kindle, which is the best out of all three for books, is just trying to keep up with the most popular kid in school, Mr. iPad.
My conclusion is all of these things are all well in good; heck, I even want an iPad, but I’m also going to keep reading, and collecting, books; and this dilemma comes down to what parents and teachers are going to be doing for their children. I’m not saying we shouldn’t advance; we just need to draw the line somewhere.
Tweet
Nice perspective, Arianna! I wonder, though, if it's better that kids are reading something rather than nothing at all. As you point out, when kids have an iPad in class, they're probably "browsing the web" rather than executing math problems or reading Shakespeare... but while browsing the web the could actually be reading something that interests them more than algebra or "Romeo and Juliet"?
ReplyDeleteI like that the Kindle (and other eReaders) make access an instant possibility. We've not seen this before in the "print" industry. In the past, you want a book? Drive the book store, walk to the library, or physically borrow it from a friend. Even getting the morning paper requires you to get dressed, saunter down your driveway and (gasp) bend down to pick it up. I guess, for today's culture, we've become a people of instant gratification-- which adds fuel to this already burning inferno that is eReaders.