After the invention of e-books, there are fewer pictures of people carrying a real book to read in public places. Instead there is a the rising number of over-dependent technology users who always keep their eyes surfing on screens instead. Even worse, some people think that electronic reading could potentially replace paper books because of its conveniences and speed. Obviously, nobody could deny the tremendous convenience in using modern devices in order to read books. With just a smartphone and a connected wifi, people today can simply search and read every kind of books with just a few clicks. Additionally, online readers also don’t have to worry about walking with a heavy book everywhere, or remembering to carry it all the time, or where to get rid of really old books when their shelf is out of space. As far as the convenience of using the new reading method is concerned, we should not completely get rid of what we used to do, especially in reading paper books. Let’s take a further look, we will see that spending time reading a real book is far more beneficial and healthier than using an electronic version.

According to a Medical Daily article called “E-Books Are Damaging Your Health: Why We Should All Start Reading Paper Books Again”, the author mentions some differences between a Kindle reader and a paper book reader. He said people who are reading books by using modern devices such as
­—smartphone or laptop­ — seem hardly to remember details and content of the book which they just finished compared to traditional readers.

Furthermore, Charles Czeisler, Sleep Medicine professor in Harvard medical school, found out that “the light emitted by most e-readers is shining directly into the eyes of the reader, whereas from a printed book or the original Kindle, the reader is only exposed to reflected light from the pages of the book.” It means the light affection from electronic devices could potentially decrease the sleep’s quality of the readers. In my opinion, paperbook readers are able to gain a real feeling of relaxation and enjoyment. People decide to read a book when they want to eacape stress and have a peaceful moment without any interferences in order to refresh their mind. However, if they read with an electronic devive, they are easily distracted by many things such as notifications from social networks and apps, messages from friends, surfing websites, advertisements, or emails from work. How could they really relax?

The biggest reason I love reading a paper version is that I could earn valuable feelings which online reading could not bring me. First of all, sometimes when I purchase used books I could find old books which had handwritten notes from previous owners. Those might be a comment about a book’s content, a signature or message. For me, those books are witnesses of time and what I want to do with them is to keep writing down my own thoughts in them. Additionally, in my opinion, holding a book, touching it, smelling its paper and marking in it while reading are what make people be real readers. Therefore, I believe sometimes people should stay completely away from modern technology and find an appropriate place to enjoy the feelings of reading a real book.