Are Kindles Better Than Real Books?

Everyone I meet seems to either love their Kindle, or they refuse to get one in the first place. They don't even want to give it a chance because nothing can replace the feeling of holding an actual book, turning the pages, and even smelling the paper, (something I know nothing about.)

To be fair, I get it. I was the same way once. I loved books. I loved seeing the left side grow thicker as you got closer to the end. I loved the cover art that some books had. I loved collecting books and storing them in my bookshelf.

I had more books than I would ever get around to reading. Sometimes, I'd even be reading two books at the same time. Lugging those books around on trips and even just in my day to day life was honestly annoying sometimes. You'd be surprised at how much lighter your backpack is with one less book.

So, being a millennial who likes to stay up-to-date on technology, I decided I wanted to see for myself what this E-reader hullaballoo was all about.

I splurged $119 and got myself the Kindle Paperwhite. I chose this particular model because it's backlit, which honestly was a major selling point for me because reading a paper book in the dark isn't so convenient.

On top of that, it is so lightweight. Lighter than I expected it to be. And this was back in 2012, the newer models keep getting lighter and lighter. The newest model is 7.3 ounces which isn't much considering the 6-inch screen.

One thing that might be considered a drawback is the fact that you have to charge it. But considering that we have so many other devices that we have to charge in our daily life, what's one more? the Kindle uses a micro-USB which is standard for most electronics (except iPhones) and the battery life lasts forever. I'm not kidding, I charge my kindle like every one or two months depending on how much I use it and if I use the backlight a lot.

Another thing I love is that I can take my whole library of books with me wherever I go. If I'm not sure what I want to read, I don't have to carry around extra books. I just scroll through my home page and decide what I feel like reading in that moment.

OH! I almost forgot to mention, I get the New York Times delivered to my Kindle, daily. I have to pay a subscription fee, of course, but wow it is worth it in my opinion. I have trouble reading newspapers because I find them cumbersome to fold and unfold them. On my kindle, I scroll through headlines and leads and click on a story to read the full thing. It's wonderful. It's made reading the news so much easier.

"But I don't like looking at so many screens," you may be thinking to yourself. Well, don't. Because this is E-ink, and it is so easy on my eyes. If you get immersed enough into a book, you're going to forget you're reading an electronic device.

Kindles are never going to replace physical books, but they sure do make it much easier and enjoyable to read a variety of books and other material.