The New York Times has talked about digital reading before and they’re doing it again.  Despite the different scenario, a toddler being able to differentiate between a book and the screen and the impact each may have, the question is still the same: is online reading still reading?

Listen, people.  Times they are a-changing.  You’re reading this right now, aren’t you?  Does that mean you’re not really reading?  Are we getting metaphysical with that definition?  Because it seems to be coming close to that.  The first entry definition of “read” on dictionary.com is “to look at carefully so as to understand the meaning of.”  The examples given to further the definition mention something printed, but those are just examples.  The definition doesn’t officially include only that a book bound and printed is the only form of actually reading.

I’m not keen on the whole digital reading, really (despite the two blogs I have, I know).  Staring at a screen for extended periods of time is much more straining on my eyes than staring at a book.  But how can the benefits of digital reading be discounted?  The Amazon Kindle, for example, can store a thousand books.  How convenient is that for traveling?  Does it mean that the guy next to you is “legitimately” reading the same book because he has the printed version and you’re just fiddling with technology?  Of course not.  The words are the same.  The story is the same.  The medium is just different.  It doesn’t make it any lesser than the other.

Books, in many forms, have been around for thousands of years.  I doubt the e-book is going to make them go away any time soon.  I posted somewhere on this blog the statistics of people who like printed books versus digitial media and the former still greatly outweighs the latter.  But it doesn’t make the latter not reading.

No, I don’t think a Kindle will ever replace the feeling of curling up with a good book.  It’s just not the same.  But let’s open our eyes to our changing literary environment, ok?  To say reading one book on a screen isn’t really reading and reading the same thing in print is is just idiotic.  They both say the same thing.  For a generation that’s grown (and growing) up with iPods and cell phones, they can be and are the same thing.  People act as if libraries and book stores are going to become extinct within the next week.  Get a grip.

Reading’s reading and in a society where literacy rates and testing scores are steadily declining (or not getting better compared to our ridiculously low test scores), beggars can’t really be choosers, can they?  So long as they’re reading, their brains are being stimulated.  Let’s go on from there.