Last year I bought my husband, a very non-English major type, a Kindle. He hardly ever read before that. Television used to be his entertainment of choice before bed.
Now, guess what? He reads every night before turning out the light. “Has to” so he can sleep. Of course, lately he’s been reading a borrowed set of Game of Thrones books not on his Kindle. But he’s reading.
And he’s got the Kindle app on his iPhone, so he can pull up an e-book anytime, anywhere. Like when he’s stuck waiting for soccer practice to finish.
I love that he’s reading more. But is he the norm? Or the exception?
According to study results posted by the Pew Internet and American Life Project in April of 2012, Americans are reading more with e-readers. Since you probably don’t have time to read the full report, let me sum up:
- people who used e-readers read more books in all formats (print, e-book, etc)
- 43% of those who used e-readers reported spending more time reading, especially men under age 50 (Ah ha! See note above about husband, who fits this demographic!)
- E-reader device owners were more likely to buy books, particularly e books (Good news for the industry, bad news for bookstores.)
- Readers preferred e-reading devices for convenience, but they liked printed books for reading to kids and sharing with others.
It looks like many Americans, and not just my hubby, are spending more time reading because of e readers. Yay!
Now think about this. Amy Gahran, in a CNN article on the Pew Research made an interesting suggestion: e readers will ultimately make books more accessible to all Americans.
Huh? I’ve always worried about e readers preventing the poor or the disabled from having access to books.
But Ms. Gahran pointed out that e readers keep getting cheaper. They also allow users to change fonts (think enlarge) and utilize text to speech functions. E readers can break down the barriers of vision impairment, age, and illiteracy.
Pretty cool.
I saw a funny graphic on Facebook this morning- it said we’re going to have to come up with a new phrase for fast paced books. “A page turner” may soon sound archaic!
Do you think e readers will ultimately promote more literacy in our society?
How about kids and e -readers- do you think they read more because they can use the little electronic devices permanently attached to their hands?
I can’t wait to hear your thoughts! Thanks for stopping by, and happy reading!
Julia
Very interesting. I also heard of a study, though, where school children were tested after reading on e-readers/computers and after reading from books, and they retained FAR more of what they read in books than of what they read in electronic format. I don’t know where the study was done, and I still have an e-reader, but I think it makes sense – we interact more with a hard copy, using more of our senses.
This IS interesting- and I bet you’re right, it’s because of the interaction with a hard copy. Thanks for sharing.
I love my Kindle, but there’s just something about holding the paper between my fingers. And I agree with that parent study — I couldn’t imagine reading a kindle book to my kids. Picture books just wouldn’t be the same!
Yeah, that’s a big problem with ebooks- the visual appeal. But, maybe tablets can address that?
I can see how e-readers are convenient and make reading more accessible for some people. It’s nice being able to carry a library around. However, I still adore books and prefer them; it’s easier to refer to other pages on a hard copy. (Not to mention they bring back warm memories from childhood.)
My kids are both big readers. They both tried a Nook for a while, but they both still prefer hard copies.
Hopefully bookstores are here to stay!
I know what you mean Linda- it’s hard to “flip back” a few pages. But I’ve used the “note” feature on the Kindle, and it’s really easy to find highlighted passages/ words with that.
My kids seem happy reading in any format- but I won’t let them take a Kindle to school, so they still read a lot of printed material.
Thanks for summarizing the study, Julia! So glad to hear that your husband is more into reading and enjoys a book before bedtime now. My husband has a tablet, but I think it’s used more for Web stuff and games. In regards to accessibility, I recently went to a doctor’s office and saw the elderly patients using e-readers; it was pretty exciting!
That’s a great example of better access! Thanks for sharing this.
I am a mixed media reader. I love my reader for its portability, the ability to enlarge the font, and instant access to books–sometimes I have to have it RIGHT NOW 🙂
I also love roaming through bookstores open to being seduced by a cover. My bookshelves are sagging with the weight of what I already own, and I can use my to-read pile as a bookshelf.
I do think readers radically change the economics of the business, and they will get cheaper. Reduced cost of goods sold will bring prices down.
What needs to evolve is the use of physical space with the e-reader. Poetry, picture books, photography, even layout suffer outside of the physical page. Non-fiction suffers as well, since we’re used to using call out boxes, sidebars and other visual devices that don’t transfer as well electronically.
You bring up an excellent point Jeannine! There is very little formatting/ text variety etc. with e-readers. All the formats you mentioned really suffer in the e-reader format. Perhaps this will get better with the evolution of tablets. My guess is simple e-readers will fade away in the shadow of tablets… but then will the poor and disabled still have access in that scenario?
It will definitely take longer for tablets to get cheap enough, but my guess is that the public education system will accelerate the process. The economics of electronic textbooks are just too attractive. At $70-$100 per textbook, giving each kid a reader might be more cost effective than buying physical books.
Our system has gone electronic. I think we’re on the bleeding edge (and not necessarily a big success since the books aren’t formatted well) but it could potentially be a great learning tool.
Interesting topic and discussion.
Jeannine, I hadn’t thought about textbooks yet! Wow. My kids could have much lighter back packs, if, as you point out, formatting issues could be improved. LOTS of visual information in textbooks.
I appreciate your involvement in this discussion- great ideas, thanks!
Julia,
This is very interesting information. I’m still wrapping my brain around how things have changed (and continue to ) in the world of technology. Thanks for keeping me up to date on info like this; it’s helpful. (b/c I feel ‘archaic’ in my know-how at times. 😉 Love, Hester 😉
Thanks for summarizing this study. I’ve been sharing all the fun facts with my husband, who is anti- e-reader, and mostly reads magazines. I’d say that anything that gets people to read more is a good thing.
Actually Emily, the study also said that people are also reading more periodicals with e-readers as well. Hmmm. What does he think about that? 🙂