I have mixed feelings on the issue of “digital textbooks.”  While reading about them this week, I found myself easily agreeing to all the points various authors made in their favor.  Online textbooks seem to be the opposite of all the things that I hate in regular textbooks.  They are cheaper, lighter, interactive, and condensable.  And though these are all things I already knew, I found it impossible to ignore one key factor:  I don’t use them.

Realizing this confused me a bit.  Here were all these arguments that I had (for a long while) acknowledged as true, yet I have never bothered to go out and buy an e-Reader myself. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit behind on the technology front, or maybe it’s because I’m inherently lazy and don’t like textbooks to begin with, but buying books online had never really appealed to me.  I find this upsetting in a way, because I’ve been searching for an educational reason to justify buying an e-Reader.

Now, regardless of my individual decisions on the matter, I do feel as though electronic books are where our future is heading.  Our generation is re-learning how to read, and technology is at the forefront of it.  Just as computers are now a necessity for higher education, I think e-Readers will follow suit.  Learning today places a high value on keeping up-to-date.  With new discoveries and information coming to light each day, staying educated doesn’t mean the same thing today as it did 20 years ago.  Using one textbook over several generations does not work anymore.  Having easy access to the internet is really the only way to learn things in real time––and for people who actually like textbooks, an e-Reader is their best bet.

Reflecting on this topic made me think twice about my learning style.  I realized that while I love reading for leisure, I hate reading to learn. I find textbooks lengthy and boring. I’ll often read an entire page of something before realizing that I haven’t actively absorbed any of it.  Even the interactive types of text don’t always interest me.  Furthermore, I’ve realized that textbooks aren’t actually used all that much in most of my classes.  I’ve noticed that dependence on the book is usually a sign of a sub-par teacher.  Books, no matter the form they take, are not something I generally commit to.  For the amount I use them, I just can’t justify the price of them––even the online ones.

Rather, I learn best from notes that I (or teachers) take in class, which ironically end up posted on the web anyway.  And I have noticed that printing them out has become a bit of a burden.  The amount of paper I use is horrendous.  Maybe an e-Reader would help in this regard.  I’ve always wanted to save the planet.  I’ll think of it as an investment in the future.  Perhaps, this is something I can buy into.