Series 1, Post 3: Changing With the Times

By Kristin Bivens

It is the age of digital. I’m not writing this post on a piece of paper with a pen or a pencil. I’m multi-tasking, switching between different windows on the computer. I will transport this via the internets to my friend in California. There will be no physical sign of it except for the very screen you are reading it on.

 

I don’t know how the rest of you feel about the digital age. I’m not against it. I’m a fan of my MacBook Pro and taking pictures with my iphone. I like the immediate satisfaction of having what I want when I want it. 

But, when it comes to my books, I am struggling to let the physical go.

A few years back, when Borders was still a bookstore and not just a fleeting memory of my past life, I decided to go ahead and buy a Kobo. I wasn’t sure about the e-reader, even as I was swiping my card to pay for it. But, it was the new thing and I was curious.

 

I have to admit that it was a solid investment. I went back and forth between digital books and real books. I usually bought the cheaper books on digital format and saved the quality ones for going to the store, holding them, and bringing them home to sit on my bookshelf. I will tell you, I didn’t use it enough before my screen cracked and my digital downloads and handy reading machine was gone forever. I think I fell asleep on it. I’m not sure. But, it definitely didn’t work anymore.

 

This was a sign. Maybe I was not meant to read books in this foreign way. Maybe it was a blessing, because now I didn’t have to struggle with the digital/physical in-between-ness that I was in. I could start filling my bookshelf up with books again. But, six months later, I bought a Nook. A regular, e-ink read Nook. The digital was bad enough, but those new fancy schmancy computer screen like reading devices definitely didn’t do it for me. I barely used the thing. So, I sold it.

 

Then, what did I do? I turned to the dark side. I bought a Google Nexus. The dreaded computer screen, that’s where I’d be reading my books from now on. It isn’t so bad. I still read some physical books. But I use my Nexus more than I ever did the Kobo or the Nook. This could be because I’ve finally run out of space on my ever expanding bookshelf.

 

Either way, I’m slowly morphing. E-publishing allows writers to get their work to the public a lot cheaper than they would using paper and binding. Books can be found slightly cheaper. It takes up less room. The more we expand, the more compact things are. You can stop carrying around two books and weighing down your shoulder bag. If you finish a book, there’s more right at the tip of your fingers. But sometimes you forget to charge your “book” and the battery runs out, leaving you high and dry. 

A book would never do that.