Are Printed Books Better

It’s been debated for a long time, since ebooks were invented. Are ebooks or printed books better? Both have many reasons stating there case, but there is overwhelming data saying that printed books are better. Many people are discovering ebooks flaws, as e-readers sales dropped 40% from 2011 to 2016 according to a CNN report (Shumaker). Printed books are better than e-books because ebooks are distracting, ebooks are bad for your health, and printed books have feeling that ebooks lack. One reason why printed books are better is because ebooks are distracting. Ebooks don’t not capture our attention as easily as the paper in a printed book. According to the article of the book “Paper to Digital: Documents in the Information Age“ Ziming Liu,

This can be seen when people read an ebook before bed. Ebooks can make it harder to fall asleep. A study from researchers from Harvard Medical School found that when they put 12 healthy young adults through a two week experiment were they would either read a light up ebook for four hour before bed or a printed book. The study found that the adults reading on the e-books took an average 10 minutes longer to fall asleep and said that less when sleepy before bed than they were when reading a printed back (Flood). Since sleeping is a very important part of physical health, when people read an ebook before bed you are less healthy from the lack of sleep. By not reading an ebook and instead reading an printed book before bed people are sleeping better and will feel more energized when they wake up. Another example is how people’s eyes react to ebooks. Ebooks screen can affect eyes in a negative way. Sometimes when people stare at a screen so long the electronic device can create visual fatigue. Visual fatigue is a condition that results in tired burning, and itching eyes (Kraft). If someone’s eyes are burning, tired, and itchy, than how are they supposed to read? By reading on e-books you are making yourself less healthy and preventing yourself from reading any more. Another reason why books are better is because of e-books can create stress, regret, and guilt.

The number of trees cut down every year is now estimated to be 30 million. This is a 10 million increase from the last estimate (The Number of Trees Cut Down to Print Books is Growing to 30 Million). But there is ways to read printed books and save trees. Instead of buying every book you want to read, just borrow them from the library. Or you could buy books from manufacturers that responsibly source there trees. Also, ebooks are cheaper. “Many readers cite the price of eBooks as one of the primarily aspects of why they choose to read digitally. A new report by Books and e-Books UK 2014 is trying to quantify the parallel between cheaper books and reading more. Their data suggests 26% of consumers who have bought an eBook in the last year are reading more than they used to, because eBooks cost less than paperbacks, a figure that rises to 38% of 16 to 24-year-olds (Kozlowski).” Even though ebooks might cost less, books are still worth it. Ebook tablets can be easily damaged and after a while the battery dies. The cost of buying ebooks and batteries for them over and over makes up for the low cost of