Book vs. E-Book

Week 3 Post for Mass Media Class

Books Go Digital

When Amazon’s Kindle first came out, I was excited. I was like a child begging my parents to buy me this new toy. I am a huge reader and I figured the Kindle would take reading to a whole new level. It did. Well, sometimes it did.

When I was taking classes at the local college and couldn’t fit a novel in my backpack, I carried my Kindle. It was great. It weighed nothing and I could have any book I wanted at the touch of a button. Ironically, I would spend my free hours sitting in the library with my Kindle. There was nothing I disliked about it except for the fact that it wasn’t a real, paperbound, full of actual paper pages book. I carried it whenever I couldn’t pack a real book.

On the other hand, when I was at home or going on a long car trip with plenty of room, I read from a real book. For me, there is just something about holding those pages in your hands and smelling the ink while you read. Kindle are good for convenience, but when given the choice, I will always pick the real book.

I believe that one day, people will stop printing books. I don’t think that it will happen anytime soon, but I do think it will happen. It is very sad when you think about it. We have come such a long way from having books written by hand and only available to a select few. With all these e-books and other devices that make almost any written work available at the touch of a button, who is going to want to search through shelves at a store or dig through the dollar bin at a library?

Media Inventory

Below is a media inventory put together for my Mass Media Class.

The Amount of Media in My Household

• 2 desktop computers able to convert to televisions
• 1 television
• 3 laptop computers
• 2 mp3 players
• hundreds of magazines/books
• dozens of DVDs and CDs
• 1 record player/radio/ CD player
• 1 CD player/radio

Inventory of Media Related Hours for Myself Per Day

An estimate for each day

• 1 to 4 hours writing stories, poems, or working on novels  on desktop computer
• 2 to 4 hours a day working on school related things on the desktop computer and reading books or articles
• 1 to 2 hours on the desktop computer just browsing or checking and replying to emails
• 1 to 10 hours of listening to the radio
• 1 to 3 hours reading a book for my own pleasure

Inventory of Media Related Hours For Myself Per Week

An estimate for each week

• 15 to 20 hours writing stories, poem or working on a novel on the desktop computer
• 15 to 20 hours doing school related things on the computer or reading books and articles
• 7 to 14 hours just browsing or checking and replying to emails
• 1-30 hours of listening to music on radio or from computer
• 7-20 hours reading for my own pleasure

I admit that seeing this list makes me a little uneasy even though it is just an estimate. I never go through my day the same way twice, but the hours rarely change. Still, I am not really surprised at the amount of hours per day or per week.

I know I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen working on my writing or doing school related tasks. Even if I didn’t realize, my family has a way of telling me when enough is enough. Sometimes the amount of hours does worry me, but I do try and balance it with other activities. I usually prefer to take a walk rather than turn on the television or a movie.

I have to add that the number of hours does drastically decrease as this South Carolina weather cools down in the wintertime. I love being outdoors, but I am convinced I was not meant for this heat. I have always said that I belong in a cooler climate, but I go where my family goes – their company is everything to me.