The paper format beats the digital one in the XXI century

Bardón Bookstore, Madrid.

Well, oddly enough, according to the CIS report published in January last year, 79,7% of Spanish readers prefer a physical book and only 11,1% opt for the digital format. In short, we would be talking about 4 out of 5 readers reading as it has been done for much of human history. Something that, compared to other areas, is very surprising.

Currently, we all have computers, tablets, smartphones and an endless number of electronic gadgets capable of making things easier for us when it comes to enjoying our precious hobby. In any case, we continue to find the essence of reading on paper, rejecting, therefore, what technological modernity offers us.. Something that, of course, does not happen in other tasks of our day to day.

If we stop to think, the digital format gives us many more facilities. It allows us, first of all, store a practically infinite number of books. Something that, of course, our home shelves would be unable to support.

Therefore, it would solve the usual problem of space. This theme, recurrent in family discussions about curved bookshelves and books piled up everywhere. Even so, in Spain, despite having the solution in our hands, those of us who love reading, generally, We continue to fill our homes, those of parents, brothers or friends, with finished books or, simply, books condemned to a practically infinite waiting list.

All this not to mention the facilities at the time of have virtually any book instantly. Allowing this, read anything anywhere in the world with just one click. Something that, of course, would facilitate the habit of reading without practically any limitation.

Nevertheless, the physical format continues to beat the digital And, strange as it is, I think there is a logical explanation for all this. Many, of course, will call us crazy or eccentric, something that does not come back to us since, sadly, those of us who like to read are not the largest nucleus of society, far from it.

Surely everything resides, and on this I base my reflection, on something that only those of us who read can appreciate. Although it is not believed or understood,  reading is lived and enjoyed with the 5 senses. No electronic surface makes us feel the smell, the touch of the pages or the weight of the story we are reading.

We, without any doubt, treat books as boxes full of stimuli of all kinds, each one being unique and genuine. Reading does not consist of simply devouring words, reading is feeling and noticing. It's a full-blown romantic act. It anchors us to our past and makes us live unrepeatable situations. Reading is something that for the moment, for many, is still only within the reach of the physical world, that of paper.