Books versus the Internet - Free Essay Example

There are a lot of changes that are occurring in the world in all aspects. This changes have been greatly influenced by the advancements that take place in the technology sector in every day to day circumstances. The education sector is not left behind as it has also undergone a lot of changes or evolution in the ways that learners carry out their reading activities. A lot of reading materials are nowadays available in the internet thus giving the learners options on whether to access their reading materials from the available books in hard copy or access them from the internet.   The internet provides a new reading experience that was not available before (Crossland et al, 2014). It might be better as compared to using the hard copy books but it also has several setbacks and limitations that accompany its use. There are a lot of benefits that come with using books over browsing the internet. One of them is that provided the reading environment is serene, the concentration is enhanced during reading books than when browsing the internet (Crossland et al, 2014). This is mainly because the internet has more captivating contents such as entertainment sites and this may make the main attention to deviate to other unnecessary information. Secondly, the books are accessible at any time and can be used in any place as opposed to the internet. For one to access the internet, a computer or other electronic devices such as mobile phones must be available. Their functioning is limited to presence of power and internet connections which might force the individual to incur extra costs. Distortion of information printed on a book is almost impossible and so no matter how old a book stays information cannot be altered. However, information on an internet website can mislead if a hacker accesses the inform ation and alters it. Comparing the cost of reading books and that of browsing in the internet, reading book is relatively cheap (Crossland et al, 2014). To begin with, internet browsing requires a lot of accessories which makes them costly. In order to browse the internet, one should has either a smartphone, e-reader, tablet, or even a laptop. In addition, one is also expected to pay for internet subscription to have him or her access the internet content from the service providers. On top of internet subscription and buying device for accessing internet, electricity bill are also incurred hence making it costly. On the contrary, reading of book the only incurred cost is while purchasing and it does not require maintenance cost like e-readers (Crossland et al, 2014). Comparing the cost of producing a book with that of producing an e-reader, that of e-reader is higher in terms of energy consumption. This is because a hundred kilowatt is consumed to produce an e-reader unlike in book production which consu mes two kilowatts (Crossland et al, 2014). Moreover, the combination of the entire cost incurred to access internet can buy several books hence this makes internet browsing too costly. Although, powering light bulb to read at night consumes a lot of energy than charging an e-reader, it does not make reading books expense as at the same time money is being charged.