The Kindle and the future of newspapers and textbooks

[RU OX Alum]

I think staring at a tiny screen like that for as long as it takes to study and go back over things for class, that your eyes would be under quite a strain.

Also, how would you highlight?

[PhiSigmaRho]

E-books will become the norm once they are used in elementary and high school - probably less than a decade. Just look at how children are using ipods, cell phones, computers, and games like the DS and Wii. During last Christmas, the younger cousins in my family were sitting on the couch text messaging each other on their DS. These children are 4-7 years old!
Kids are also being conditioned in school to recycle and be environmentally friendly. E-books could easily be seen as good for the environment and paper books as bad for the environment. So it is only a matter of time that we will become the old generation that still reads paper books!

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by PhiSigmaRho

E-books will become the norm once they are used in elementary and high school - probably less than a decade.

Call me the luddite, but I think it will be a lot longer than a decade before schools are replacing books with e-books. So many schools don't have enough computers now. I just don't see schools having the money to make that kind of switch, or being willing to put what money they do have into that kind of switch, for a lot longer than 10 years.

[PhiSigmaRho]

Ok, maybe 2 decades. Also, it will probably continue to be the situation of the haves and the have nots. I can easily see more well-off schools going more high tech. When I was in college, only a few students in the dorms were fortunate to have their own computers -- the rest of us had to go to the computer labs.

Fast forward 15+ years later, even all the elementary school kids on my street have their own computers. I cannot believe how many middle school kids have cell phones and know how to text without even looking at the phone. These young kids are electronic savy and are growing up looking at electronic screens.

[PhoenixAzul]

Ugh, my version of hell. My comprehension definitely decreases when I read electronic forms. During my dissertation research, I printed out all of my articles (and there were a LOT b/c my topic was covered in academic journals by not so much in books). I needed to be able to make notes in the margins, highlight, and cross reference. It was nice to have electronic resources to *find* them, but reading them is a different matter.

Plus there's something comforting about a book.

[sjsoffer]

Originally Posted by RU OX Alum

I think staring at a tiny screen like that for as long as it takes to study and go back over things for class, that your eyes would be under quite a strain.

Also, how would you highlight?

you can set the print to different sizes. To me, it's the exact same as reading a paperback book without the annoyance of having to fold half the book back to see the whole page.
I believe the Kindle does have a highlight/underline feature, but I've never really used it. I just use the bookmarking feature.