For the reading surveys, I got answers that I actually did not expect. I was thinking all five people I asked would say they read their e-books on e-readers, but really didn't like to read at all.
What I found, though, was that all five people I surveyed said they actually liked to read. One person specified whether he liked to read or not depended on if it was for class or for pleasure. Every single person, though, said they preferred to read true hardbound books instead of e-books.
The average time the people said they read before stopping was between 30 minutes and one hour. When circling their responses for their time on social media, cell phones, texting, surfing the Internet and streaming video seemed to be about average and normal, but some seemed to underestimate their time with technology. For the most part, people seemed to be truthful about their answers.
The answers I got for complete the sentence, "Reading is..." was quite interesting and refreshing. One said, "interesting." Another said, "the key to knowledge." And a third simply said, "fun!"
Conducting these surveys and getting responses from people in different majors gave me hope for the future of books. There are still plenty of college students who seem to still prefer reading hardbound books to reading an e-book.
I talked to a couple of my friends over the weekend, and they both said they prefer looking for books in a bookstore. Both of them have e-readers, but they said you have to be so specific when searching for something on the e-readers that they can't do it. They prefer to find a book in a bookstore and browse at all the books and find one that's interesting. The other reason they said they prefer books is that they like reading the synopsis of the book to make sure it's what they want to read.
There might still be hope for books and bookstores still.
I was surprised when I did the reading surveys as well, and especially when we talked about them in class. I think a lot of Writing and English majors have the types of analytical minds that think in a dooms-day way about the future of reading. Since these are the people I have class with, it seems like we all feed off of each others' responses to how awful it will be to have technology take over. I've mentioned this in a couple of other posts, but I still have faith in the people who thrive on human contact. This will never go away, and therefore I don't think that people who love reading or love reading hardbound books will ever be extinct. Of course our world is changing, but I don't think it's changing to become quite as dark a place as some of us think. It's important for us to have faith in the types of people who answered our surveys, like you said, who actually like to read.
ReplyDeleteAt least all of the people you surveyed liked to read. Only one of mine did and I did not know how to take that. I was glad that at least one of the people I surveyed enjoyed reading but the others were a downfall. The only time they read was when they were receiving text or checking social media. Oh yea, and if they had to read for class-if that! All three of the students I interviewed did say they prefer hardbacks rather than eBooks and kindles though. Random, but I wonder if schools will make us purchase eBooks and Kindles for future textbooks? Just a thought....
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure that e-books will take over in the classroom setting. I think there is a transition happening in college, but in elementary, middle, and high schools, I think printed books are very much still there. I had an online textbook for my high school freshman biology class, and I have to admit, I hated it. I like highlighting my textbooks, especially convoluted science textbooks. So I would not like having textbooks be on some sort of e-reader. Although I can't see a university forcing its students to buy e-readers, we already buy textbooks that can cost that much anyways. So as much as I would hate it, it wouldn't surprise me that much if textbooks do start to go digital somehow. I think the actual reading of novels for English classes should still be allowed in printed form because that is how I think they are best consumed. Taking notes on a screen just isn't the same as literally writing within the small space along the margins. (I always saw it as a challenge!) But I do think there is a change of all books, including textbooks, going digital in some way, whether it be through e-reader or online. It is all just a matter of time.
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