As for myself, I just don't know. Because of that, I felt it wise not to jump in and pretend I knew the answer. Here are the things I do know, though.
I know that I love physical copies of books. I purchase them even when I know I'll probably never have time to read them. I don't discard books unless they are truly awful or outdated (MySpace For Dummies, perhaps?). This is probably just vanity, but I like the fact that people can't go anywhere in my house without seeing a stack or shelf of books; maybe they actually believe I've read them all.
Still, I also know that I don't have any problems with texts going digital. In many ways, it simply makes texts more managable, efficient, and productive. For example, I love the fact that books I read on my iPad can contain clickable hyperlinks or charts/images I can enlarge. I love that I can highlight without bleeding through a physical page. I love that I can more easily navigate a digital text and share meaningful passages through Twittter with only a few swipes on a digital device.
Ultimately, I feel as though I'm just dwelling somewhere in between two worlds. And I think that's okay; actually, I think that's ideal.
I will never stop preaching to my kids that physical books are treasured possessions; I'll never stop appreciating the confused looks they give me when I tell them I love the smell of a good book. On the other hand, I can also tap into the expanded capabilities a digital text offers and reassure my students that I'm not technologically outdated/illiterate. If that makes me some manner of "hybrid" teacher, I think that's a good thing.
Whether or not physical books are important and valuable for future generations of students remains to be seen. Still, even if having a tangible copy of a book becomes an archaic and rare practice, I know I can rely on something I learned long ago from Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451: books, on their own, don't really matter. What matters are the ideas held within books, and ideas will always be important no matter if they are read off of tattered paper or the screen of an iPad.
I'd love to hear other thoughts on this subject. Will we see the tangible text become a thing of the past? If so, is that a social tragedy or just an English teacher's nightmare?
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Great post - love reading the blog - - I have to say I am fine with people going digital for books, but as for me - nothing like the physical copy in my hand. I love the book in my hand, the smell of a book, being able to mark in it if appropriate. I even love being able to borrow a book from someone. I was reading an old chapter book to Allie the other day, a book Papa and I had gotten at an auction. The pages are tattered. You can tell the book was loved. I thought, there has to be so many stories and memories attached to this book even beyond the story in the pages. I am a physical copy sort of person.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way Andy. And I think that the next generation will lose their love of tangible objects only if we let them. When I have kids I will make sure they have appropriate technology, but they will also have a plethora of books like I do.
ReplyDeleteI think you're right that it's best to be on the fence. It's important to be able to thrive in both situations and be a worldly person in that sense as well as others.