In the middle of the digital age, the paper book continues to be the favorite of readers of all ages.
When those of us who grew up reading Mortadelo and Filemón on paper and we appreciate reading in the classic format over any other digital experience we have disappeared, the world will be populated by people who grew up with YouTube and they studied with digital books on their tablets.
While it is true that there are still several decades for that to happen, it does not seem likely that, by then, the paper book will be valued more than as a collector's item. The smell and feel of the paper, the pleasant and slight creaking that occurs when turning the pages, will have lost value in front of advantages of low weight, storage capacity and connectivity that digital media enables.
The slow change from the paper book to the digital book. Why do we resist the ebook?
Although we can already see in the subway or on the bus representatives of the Mortadelos generation reading the latest literary successes in su , the truth is that, whatever generation you are, it is uncomfortable and if the sight does not accompany you, it becomes an impossible task. In public transport, readers of the paper book coexist with readers who carry their ebook and with not-so-readers who consult WhatsApp or social networks on their mobile.
The current advantage of the digital book is its storage capacity.
This makes you the ideal vacation companion for avid readers who don't need to carry a suitcase full of heavy paper books. Instead, for day-to-day reading, when going to bed, commuting to work or at home during the weekend, that advantage disappears, because nobody usually reads more than one book at a time. Forgoing the pleasures of paper is not offset by storage capacity.
The paper book is less eye-tiring, has no reflections on its pages and never runs out of battery.
The latest research is trying to develop a chip through which the content of millions of books can be implanted in the brain.
The single device will be the trigger for the definitive change.
The research of technology companies is aimed at concentrating all the devices that we use in one (mobile, Tablet, laptop, etc.). Between carrying a mobile phone and a paper book or a mobile and an ebook, the difference is not enough for lovers of paper to renounce it.
To reach a unique device two things are needed: Adjust the size to each use and have long-lasting batteries.
When we have a device that may have the size of a mobile o can display your screens up to the size of a television and we do not have to depend on the charger every few hours of use, we will read, watch movies, talk, play and navigate with it.
If we add to these devices virtual reality, when we get tired of reading, we can move on the subway while visiting the MoMA in New York.
Distances to work will no longer be important, we will be looking forward to being late.
Single device or also ...
The alternative to this type of invention, which according to experts provides the most real experience and with which they are already made the first tests is chip in the brain, but for the moment the human being finds it much less attractive.
I have had an electronic reader for several years and I use it to read novels: it is a literary genre that can be read on this type of device without the hassle of weight and with the convenience of being able to carry all the novels you want and change the reading as desired. But I have all the essay books on paper because it is easier for me to fix ideas by relapsing on a sheet underlining concepts or jotting down notes in the margin: that has not yet been achieved by an electronic book. And on the other hand, essay books are books that are worth reading several times and it is an inestimable help to find those annotations in the margin to reinterpret or revalue what the author wants to say.
I am pleased, as a tablet reader, that printed books continue to be very attractive to read. Whoever travels by public transport or has insomnia and is entertained by reading the electronic device is ideal. A lover of bookstores and reviewing news, inquiring about books in general, a very special situation has happened to me, almost a mental transformation because I have no longer continued with my physical library, instead I have increased it electronically . I find it shocking to argue about what or what is better, I better try to look at myself in my time, where I do have severe reluctance to social networks although I have Facebook and Twitter, and it worries me to know where the reading is going. The chip in the brain to read, or any other virtual manifestation, I think, will be an experience that manages to get out of the crisis at the global level - especially generational - in which reading is found. It is a challenge that points to a future that was yesterday!