Backlash!

Within the last couple of days, I’ve read (some of) an article hating Facebook, and I’ve chatted with several people hating eBooks (like Kindle or Sony’s Reader).

I don’t really get it.

Facebook is fun, if you like that kind of thing, and eReaders are great for certain purposes. It’s that simple.

Young people don’t hate Facebook, so I’ll address these comments to old people who might:

If you have no interest in seeing pics of your college roommate’s wife and kids, then maybe you don’t want Facebook. Or if you have no interest in a convenient way to stay in touch with people without having to actually call them, then Facebook may not be for you.

“WITHOUT HAVING TO CALL THEM!? That’s so antisocial and it’s the whole problem with technology….” No no no. These are people that you weren’t going to call anyway. I don’t find myself speaking to anyone less often than I used to. But I do find myself looking at pictures and keeping up with the lives of people who would have previously just faded away from view. My close friends are still close, and my less close friends are closer than they used to be.

I’d guess that this will all come to some kind of stasis. Sooner or later, I’ll stop being interested in those people that I’m not REALLY interested in. Like, how many high school reunions do I want to go to? But in the meantime, it’s pretty good and I’ve been able to “find” people I really did want to catch up with.

There’s also a lot of playing around with memes and games and such. I don’t do any of that because I don’t have the time or an interesting enough navel to gaze at. But it doesn’t annoy me that others do!

And lastly, there are the usual complaints about people who do this or that stupid or terrible thing on Facebook, just as there are about the Internet (and everything else). So what? Don’t do those things if you don’t want to.

eBooks:

I’ve seen and heard so many people say the same thing about eBooks. “I prefer real books. I like to turn pages. I like the whole experience.”

Well, yeah. Of course. Dare I say, “duh”? I do: Duh!

Books are great as objects. Love the books. The feel, the thickness of pages, even the smell. But what does that have to do with it?

A car radio can’t really replace sitting in your living room, in your comfy chair, grooving to your really great speakers (or headphones) while reading the lyrics as you sing along. But sometimes you don’t have the living room option.

Sometimes you’ve got to actually leave your living room and go somewhere else. When you do, you might consider listening to the speakers that are installed in your car. That car radio isn’t meant to replace your home experience, by the way. It’s meant to give you a decent approximation of that experience while you’re on the road.

eBooks are the same. When you’re not at home in your cozy library, an eReader allows you to take hundreds of books along with you in a light, portable, and easy-to-read format. Today’s eInk is no harder on the eyes than print, and the battery lasts for days.

If you don’t want one, then that’s ok with me, I guess. But honestly, seriously, for-real, I don’t understand why anyone who loves to read wouldn’t want one, if only to have plenty to read on their next vacation without having to lug around five or six books. (I do understand not buying one, since they’re so expensive.)