E-BOOKS VS PRINTED BOOKS

Kenneth Kurniawan

Throughout the years we have evolved into a more electronic world, in which we have seen so many differences, such as cars, buildings, phones, and books. Now a key change I have seen throughout the years is the evolution of printed books into e-books, also known as digital books. People worldwide have their preferences on how they like to read their stories. It could be from the feeling of the physical book or the smell of the pages. On the other hand, the e-book does provide convenience and portability, where you can bring them anywhere and there are so many options we can choose from if we were to use the e-book application on our phones.

Now the majority of readers around the world would prefer to read printed books. The reason is that by reading printed books it has been proven that readers would remember the story even faster than e-book readers. Printed book readers would decrease the chances of their eyes getting damaged, as they are only staring at the pages instead of staring at their phone screen. Another advantage of printed books would be that the reader would not be easily distracted from anything for which they are only reading the words and not have to worry about the pop-up ads that usually come up as we are reading books from the application. Based on my experience as a printed book reader, I love to properly take care of my books so that they can last for generations and they can be cherished heirlooms. We will also reduce the risk of losing that book, so that if we were to read the book again then we just need to go get the book again. Instead of having a risk of a virus attacking our phone and deleting all the files in our phones including our downloaded books.

Now the majority of readers around the world prefer e-books. Now e-books are very well known for being able to be read anywhere and anytime, for which all you need to do is to open your phone and select the book that you are trying to read. Through your phone, you can search for the book you want to read in a matter of seconds. Since the majority of the world is using the internet as their number one source, a collection of new interesting books can be found on the internet. Some books on the internet are free and they could be used by kids around the world to try to understand or read the books they are interested in. Almost 80% of people around the world already have phones, so we can see that it would be easy for people to access their books.

In conclusion, we can see that each of them has its advantages and disadvantages. It is mostly about our preference. Some people would be more comfortable reading through real books and some would prefer e-books. It is important to consider personal preferences, lifestyle, and reading habits when deciding between the two formats. Ultimately, the goal is to foster a love for reading and engage with books in a way that is enjoyable and fulfilling for each individual. It’s almost similar, however, it would be more beneficial for kids to learn and read from e-books. Why? The reason is that kids these days have their own electronic devices so it would be easy for them to access books online through their phones.

References

McMaken, L. (2022, April 7). E-Books vs. Print Books: What’s the Difference? Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0812/e-books-vs.-print-books.aspx

Ebooks and children: 2-8 years. (2023, August 25). Raising Children Network. https://raisingchildren.net.au/preschoolers/play-learning/literacy-reading-stories/ebooks-and-children-2-8-years#:~:text=Ebooks%20can%20help%20beginning%20readers,features%20to%20better%20understand%20stories.

Jamie-Admin. (2023, January 24). eBooks vs Printed Books: What is better and what’s the difference? Imprint Digital.  https://digital.imprint.co.uk/printed-books-vs-ebooks/#:~:text=While%20eBooks%20have%20their%20own%20advantages%20such%20as%20portability%20and,when%20reading%20from%20physical%20books.