Sunday night, a horrible thing happened to me: my computer broke. Oh, the unspeakable horror! Yes, I have gone a full three days without my laptop, and have had to do the seemingly impossible: live without the Internet. However would I be able to survive? It's been a rough go, and seeing as I will probably be without a computer for at least another three days, I have found other ways to occupy my time, and honestly, it's been wonderful.
I have rediscovered the simple joys of a hard copy of a piece of literature. I have read the entirety of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (which I highly recommend to anyone in need of a good book), ALL of my assigned readings for the week in very class, and every copy of SURFER and SURFING magazine I own, and even a couple of copies of USA Today and The New York Times. I had forgotten the feeling of holding a book or magazine in my hands and turning actual pages. I love being able to look at a book and see exactly how much I have read, and how much more I still have to read.
So this week, I am asking each of you to take a step away from the electronics, and read a good, old paperback for a change. Magazines and newspapers are becoming somewhat of a lost art nowadays because subscriptions have plummeted. Which makes sense. The internet is so convenient now that it takes more effort to get a magazine than it does to pop open a tab on your internet browser and type in a dot-com address. And those pesky Kindles are lighter and smaller than lugging three novels in your carry on luggage. But don't give up on these more traditional mediums just yet! Go pick up a recent copy of SURFING, Sports Illustrated, or Glamour and you'll see so much that is missing on the web. The advertisements, photo editorials, and articles are just not the same on a 600x800 pixel screen. Come on, what's more satisfying: finishing that last sentence on the last page of a 700 page tome that you've been working on for the past three weeks, or clicking away for a webpage? Call me old-fashioned, but I'd take the dusty book over the flashy Nook any day.
I read my news online most of the time but I will usually get the paper about once or twice a week. My reasoning is based both on having something physical like a paper to hold as well as because I like how things are presented. There isn't really a place where you can read just the headlines and then select the article to read, instead they are presented the way that the editor wants them to be presented. I like this because it allows me to read things that I probably wouldn't normally read if I were to pick by myself. Same things comes with magazines. Magazines are also so much in depth than online and there are better pictures and more total things can be seen on a page layout than on a webpage.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with you. With so much new, cutting-edge technology being throw our way, we forget the value of just sitting and reading a book. I love reading. I love the feel of the book in my hand, the way the pages smell, and the feeling of accomlishment when I've reached the end. I don't think that I will ever be able to get used to a nook!
ReplyDeleteIt is funny how I have spent a total of 55 minutes on the computer in this particular sitting and it has only felt like 5. Thank you for such sage advice; sometimes these things happen for a reason, and you effectively seized the moment. I would like to write more, but I am going to shut my computer down immediately and read a book!
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