Many factors may go into choosing an e-book or a paper copy book, but which is the best way to go?

People nowadays are using technology for everything. The past decade or so that has included books. This is proving to create conflict between two types of people, those who prefer e-books and those who prefer printed copies.

There are several sources that have found that e-books are a better choice such as, e-books cater to each child’s unique learning style, reading on the go, audio functions, and many more things that push towards e-books being a better option to go by. But paper books have some good arguments as well, there is no eye strain from the light coming off of the electronic screens such as computers or tablets, comprehension skills are higher, and sleep issues which are generally associated with screens don’t exist in the paper copies of books. More and more studies are showing the pros and cons of the newer e-book technology, and the differences it has to paper books.

Paper books boost retention which helps developing readers, and students who use textbooks. Students don’t connect with electronic screens as they would a story on paper. A lot less information is comprehended by e-readers.

While on the subject of school and education, some positive aspects of e books are the videos and pictures in the e-books help children learn the words in the books. It makes reading possible for all reading styles, allowing readers who are struggling, to not feel so embarrassed

E-books are small and portable which is really good for “reading on the go”. I’d also point out how valuable the audio functions are that come along with e-books. The convenience portion of online books are extremely intriguing  to young unenthusiastic readers, who often prefer e-books. The younger generations are a lot more tech savvy and find that e-books are more comfortable for them to read.

The cost of digital books are often cheaper too. This makes it possible to buy many books at a time rather than saving up for each book one at a time, all while saving a significant amount of space.

While all of this is true, e-books can come with many distractions. For example, multitasking is found nearly three times more in e-readers, which can be a good thing sometimes. But, when reading something digitally texts, games, music, and other online things can get in the way making productivity nearly impossible.

Many people who have a fondness for books may have a lot more reason to prefer paper books. For one, they are more tactile, they carry with them more “human touch” not to mention they smell good too.

Author, David Richardson said, “ There’s a certain something that comes with turning pages, smelling the paper, and seeing permanent words emblazoned on pages”.

There are also those who just love the paper copies for reasons such as collecting them or maybe just decorating around a house. There are definitely many ways to decorate using books, it gives homes more of a homey feeling to them. Let’s face it,  it can’t get much better than being surrounded by all your favorite novels.

But, it should not be ignored that health related issue are often found to correlate directly with electronic screens. Specifically, eye problems like eye strain. There can certainly be bad effects of high amounts of light coming from screens. It definitely causes irritated eyes, and visual fatigue, not only causing issues for the rest of the day but possibly for life.

Along with eye problems  sleep related issues should also be addressed. The artificial light makes it extremely difficult for the readers to get a decent amount of sleep. This can cause further health problems and diseases to occur due to the lack of sleep. Melatonin, a hormone that the body naturally makes to help us sleep, is significantly decreased as you read from electronic screens. This effects the immune system and alertness of the body. The lack of sleep also may be due to the huge amounts of artificial light, tricking the eyes/brain to think it’s daytime outside.

While e-books do have negative effects for the eyes, there are some benefits as well. People with dyslexia and other eyesight issues and disorders can change the text size and zoom in and out. This makes it a ton easier to those with impaired vision, and highly effects the reading ease for the readers.

Although I personally much prefer a traditional paper book, there are definitely pros and cons for both ways of reading. There is no “best way to go”. When it comes down to it, using a mixture of both is the best option.