Finding Your Book Interrupted ... By the Tablet You Read It On

[SeaKing]

"Reading a book on a tablet like the Kindle Fire is like trying to cook when there are little children around,” David Myers said.

By JULIE BOSMAN and MATT RICHTEL
Published: March 4, 2012, New York Times

"Can you concentrate on Flaubert when Facebook is only a swipe away, or give your true devotion to Mr. Darcy while Twitter beckons?

People who read e-books on tablets like the iPad are realizing that while a book in print or on a black-and-white Kindle is straightforward and immersive, a tablet offers a menu of distractions that can fragment the reading experience, or stop it in its tracks.

E-mail lurks tantalizingly within reach. Looking up a tricky word or unknown fact in the book is easily accomplished through a quick Google search. And if a book starts to drag, giving up on it to stream a movie over Netflix or scroll through your Twitter feed is only a few taps away.

That adds up to a reading experience that is more like a 21st-century cacophony than a traditional solitary activity..."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/05/bu...tractions.html

Are our devices becoming so capable and flexible that they interfere with our reading. Are the new eReaders ruining our reading experience, our reading habits?
Should we rid ourselves of our iPads, our Fires, our Samsung Tablets and load up our Kindles, Nooks, Sonys, and Kobos again?

Should we?

[RainingLemur]

I think if you set out to get something for reading ebooks, you'll primarily use it for that. I work with a few people that have Fires or Nook Color/Tablets that use them almost exclusively for reading. If you go into it thinking "Oh, this can get apps, use Twitterbook, Facespace, browse the net, play games, AND read ebooks!" you'll probably end up getting distracted with the other bells and whistles. Just my take on it.

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I think if you set out to get something for reading ebooks, you'll primarily use it for that. I work with a few people that have Fires or Nook Color/Tablets that use them almost exclusively for reading. If you go into it thinking "Oh, this can get apps, use Twitterbook, Facespace, browse the net, play games, AND read ebooks!" you'll probably end up getting distracted with the other bells and whistles. Just my take on it.

I am used to waiting a lot on clients and that was when I read usually my Kindle or paperbacks. Now it is different. I have noticed that my new Samsung 7 Plus has a hell of a lot of bells and whistles. A curse or a blessing? Too early to tell.

[FizzyWater]

How different is this than reading in a living room where the TV and computer are both on? I've been distracted in my reading (on my Sony Reader) by a pop-up telling me I got mail (on my computer).

[HansTWN]

I only read newspapers on my tablet, not books. And usually I turn the WiFi off when I do.

[sabredog]

I have the perfect solution.

I do not read ebooks on my iPAD.

No distractions at all when using my Sony PTS-650 ereader

[vxf]

I just don't get it. If you can't focus, the problem is not your tablet.

[Blue Tyson]

There's internet access on my Kindle and usually PCs within metres, so hardly of interest.

If a book starts to drag, change to one of the several hundred others on device, actually.

[sabredog]

Originally Posted by vxf

I just don't get it. If you can't focus, the problem is not your tablet.

Yep, half a dozen pop ups that all need to be closed informing you about incoming new emails, an SMS, a face book notification, the latest cricket score and putting the rubbish out, can really make you focus.....not

Sorry, when I read an ebook I use a device that lets me read without pop ups. I do not see a dead tree book popping up an alert that the book spine is coming apart or not to dog ear the page. USE a bookmark!...

[fumanchu314159]

Originally Posted by vxf

I just don't get it. If you can't focus, the problem is not your tablet.

While I don't want to make excuses for our lack of self-discipline, my wife and I have found that planning out our environment helps us to spend more time doing the things we want to do. We do that with e-ink readers rather than tablets, decisions about whether or not to have cars and TVs, what foods are lying around the house and where, how computer work is arranged on virtual desktops, etc. For us it's a matter of thinking things through ahead-of-time so that the little spontaneous decisions are channeled in the directions we prefer.

[david_e]

When I had a reading only device without wifi I saw no need for it as I thought it would be a source of distractions. Now that I am reading on an iPad, I just turn them off.

[Valkrider]

It depends on how disciplined you are and how you segregate your activities.

My iPad is a book reader at bedtime, I don't keep the other half awake when I am reading. During the day it is used for Facetime with our grandson or reading or doing whatever. It is only really used for tablet stuff when we are away from home and want to do Twitter, Facebook emails etc.

[Kumabjorn]

I can certainly discern a difference from when I'm reading on one my Readers and when I'm reading on my Transformer. After finishing a chapter on the latter I will open up Twitter or e-mail "just to check in". I don't do that when I'm on a Reader, then I just plunge on to the next chapter. But moving away from the book for a short while isn't a distraction, it is more like a short break.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by sabredog

Yep, half a dozen pop ups that all need to be closed informing you about incoming new emails, an SMS, a face book notification, the latest cricket score and putting the rubbish out, can really make you focus.....not

None of those happen when I read on an iPad.
The only popup message I ever get is one warning if the battery gets too low, which is useful.

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by SeaKing

"People who read e-books on tablets like the iPad are realizing that while a book in print or on a black-and-white Kindle is straightforward and immersive, a tablet offers a menu of distractions that can fragment the reading experience, or stop it in its tracks.

E-mail lurks tantalizingly within reach. Looking up a tricky word or unknown fact in the book is easily accomplished through a quick Google search. And if a book starts to drag, giving up on it to stream a movie over Netflix or scroll through your Twitter feed is only a few taps away.

They have pills for ADHD now.