As the years go by, technology advances and I tend to rely on it more. Although this isn’t my first time ever having online classes, this is the first semester I have had them all online. With having all of my classes online now like most students in the US, I have most of my class text books online as well as other books I enjoy during my free time. With all the online reading I am doing now I have noticed a few differences compared to when I had all print books. Also after reading from The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains by Nicholas Carr I learned about a few ways reading with technology affects us as well. Below is a list of Pros and Cons to online reading.
Online Reading Pros
- You can have all of your books in one place so they don’t get lost.
- You can pretty much read them anywhere you go right off your phone.
- Can sometimes be cheaper.
- You don’t have to go anywhere to buy them and don’t have to wait to get it in the mail
- They have audio book versions to listen to instead
- You can highlight and un-highlight things without ruining the pages
- Dog proof(if you have a dog like mine who enjoys eating print books)
Online Reading Cons
- Strains your eyes
- Can give you headaches
- Can shorten your attention span
- Can be hard to concentrate if you keep getting alerts on your screen as you read
Reading on a phone or computer can be helpful in many ways and make life a little easier for some people. Although, it also can be bad for your overall health. I think it really depends on the steps you take while reading online and what your prefer reading on that makes the biggest difference.