Friday, September 30, 2011

Digital vs. Print

  New technology has allowed us to see various forms of entertainment, including music, videos pictures, etc. But very recently, we have created technology which will allow us to hold various formats, including books, into a device called a tablet. This opens various options for the people who can buy tablets, because not only is it greener than buying a multitude of papers, it also allows you to save weight and also to carry various books in a featherweight tablet.
  Arguments have started with the introduction of this technology as people look for better ways to save trees, even Crossroad was thinking of replacing paper books with tablets as another way to prevent deforestation, which is a serious manner in the world at this moment. There are many reasons as to why should we or why should we replace books with digital copies.
  Hannah provides plenty of sentiment into her pamphlet by reminding us that books aren't solely ink on paper, but also memories, signatures, and other feelings which digital copies cannot give us. But many of her other reasons are false, because the the experience does not depend completely on the book or digital copy itself, but mainly on the reader. That is because the reader does he/she pleases, a book will not force someone to concentrate, the reader chooses whether or not to.
  Therefore, I agree with Dustin's argument that digital copies are the way to go, because they aren't only green, but allow a similar experience to the reader. It does all of that while making reading more efficient. Books will not be changed, because people will always have the need to imagine their own world in the book, so books will never include music, videos, and/or pictures, or else it wouldn't be called a book. Nobody will allow the basic format of a book. And all of the books are copyrightedd and protected by the company which launched it, so no hacker or evildoer will change letters in the book, even so, who in the world would ever change the content in a book just for the evil of it?
  Although digital copies do not get wrinkled or can't be signed and can't get messed up, they are the future way reading because it is more efficient. Various companies have already gone ahead and solved many problems which Hannah mentions. And only the reader can choose the way he/she reads the book. So someone who doesn't concentrate while reading will never concentrate reading anything because that's the way they were born. Books are read, they don't read.


  1. Are we so certain digital readers are great for the environment though? Books are at the very least biodegradable, and composed of a renewable resource. With the constant tech upgrades which rule the present age, and likely will continue into the future what is going to happen to all the outmoded kindles, Ipads and android tablets? Although the Ipad may be marketed as recyclable, in practice they will go straight to landfill I should think. And what of the rare earth metals needed to manufacture smart electronics? There is not an inexhaustible supply of these materials. It is possible print is greener than we've been told.

  2. Many people ask themselves the same question,are digital readers actually greener than books themselves? The truth is that for a digital reader to leave a smaller carbon footprint than a paper book, it needs to have at least 20 books. But digital readers will turn out greener especially if people who use them are avid readers, because they will usally have a library of 75 books, making digital copies greener by a large margin. And many ipad users will be even more greener because they will not have to print many of their photos, they can simply carry a myriad of photos on their ipad, dispensing the need of wasting paper and ink. Another argument people bring up is that all of these digital readers are made up of chemicals and rare metals. The reality of it is that the only questionable materials are mercury and pvc, most of which are recycled. And the recycling problem occurs with paper too, the US imports 20 million trees a year for book production, and they usually end up in the landfill. Digital readers are recycable and according to Cleantech Group, if people bought e-readers instead of books for four years, we could prevent about 9.9 billion kilograms of carbon dioxide from being released during the four-year time period. All of these facts prove that digital readers are actually greener than books.