Quote:
Originally Posted by queentess
Eventually, at some point in the future, pbooks will likely be very rare and ebooks will become the norm. Do you think children will cease learning how to read?
I honestly don't think this is as big of a deal that everyone else seems to think it is. Humans are very adaptable, and just because it's not what you know and not how you learned doesn't mean that children can't pick up on it.
I'll quote myself from another thread:
Technology is in constant flux, but I think kids adapt to it without a problem. That said, of course very young children love to look at colorful pictures (which the 'typical' ereader doesn't yet support) and they love to physically manipulate objects (like turning pages and holding the book).
I don't think that holding a book upside down is inherently different from holding an ereader upside down. And turning pages forward/backward isn't different from knowing that the page forward button advances the story and the page backward button does not.
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Reading a book, a real book, is way different for a child from reading a book on an ereader. The interaction is totally different. I have a couple of Dr. Seuss books on my iPad for my son, and it is just not the same as a real book. Pushing the screen isn't the same as turning the page. Plus the book can actually read itself to him, which cuts down on the social learning of reading, including the verbal/visual cues children get while learning spoken language, that a computer just can't give.
My 23-month-old is pretty tech savvy—I actually bought him a used iPod touch because I was sick of all the sticky fingerprints on my iPhone, but video stuff is not the same as real life stuff. He loves Tozzle, a puzzle app and is superb at it, able to do even the most complicated puzzles they offer. But he also loves real puzzles and is not as good as them as he is at Tozzle, because more manual dexterity is required.
I don't think electronic books will ever replace children's books. Children's books have more vivid color than even the iPad can deliver. I know the iPad is full color but there is something more eye-grabbing about the same page in a book. Plus they have more control, turning the pages at their speed, playing with the pages, nibbling the pages, skipping a bunch of pages, etc. My son has his favorite parts of many of his books and instead of reading the whole thing he'll flip right to that page. And he loves getting to the end of the book, flipping it closed, announcing "The End!", then putting it back on the bookshelf and picking out another book.
As someone who has read with a toddler both ways, I can say ebooks for young children don't compare in any way to pbooks.
-Marcy