Reading is enriching and can boost our mind and brains. It can be a story, poetry, or research, reading is indeed helpful and essential in our living. And reading can be done through a medium and reading materials such as books, magazines, newspapers, encyclopedias, etc. However, as time goes by, books in the libraries became a little bit dusty as the modern mediums came out, the internet.

Books

Every one of us has seen books already. Since we are in preschool up until we graduated from college books are one of the most helpful things in our bags. A book is a written or printed work consisting of pages glued or sewn together along one side and bound in covers. When I was still young, I used to love reading fairy tales, fables, and other kids' storybooks. As I grew up, I am fond of reading horror books, the most trendy book during my 6th grade in elementary was “True Philippine Ghost Stories”. We love to read this book during class breaks. Reading books was fun and entertaining. You can use your wide imagination in picturing out the scene or what is being described in the story or text you're reading.

Internet

As the title states, books and your screen, I'm referring to the internet in “your screen”. Technology has improved our lives by providing us faster and convenient services and one of these was the internet. And to be honest, it changed the way we looked at the books as it provided us all from history to literature, entertainment education all at one click. When I discovered the internet, I seldom open some books. Every time we have an assignment or homework before, the internet became my instant savior. You can do some research easily, click here, click there and just a pop, your searched topic was shown. You can also search and browse some pictures, videos, and audios on the internet which is informative, interesting, and very entertaining too.

Books and Your Screen

Internet

The Internet is much cheaper than books. And this is true, you just need a few cents if you want to use the internet. If you don't have your PC at home, there are lots of computer shops out there where you can have your time using the net. But as technology rises, we can use our mobile phones to its extent through the use of the internet.

Here's our collection of Encyclopedias, these were the collection of my grandparents from A-Z.

Way before, these books were too expensive, and collecting these are pricey.

The good thing is the collection was still completely up to now, but it was divided into two families, my family, and my aunt's family. And I captured only four and as you can see it was too old with litters of my son. 😅

The Internet is fast and easy to use in finding information regarding a particular subject. As I've said, your searched subject will be shown instantly with just one click. Unlike in books where you need to search on every page, through table contents. And if that certain book isn't available at home, you need to go to the library and search for it which is kinda tiring and time. consuming.

The Internet provides audio and visual experience to the readers and surfers and books provide only the visual experience. As our modern world was powered by technology, you can do a lot of things through the internet and without question, it makes reading extra enjoyable and entertaining.

Though browsing through your book's pages is quite boring and old school, books are irreplaceable. Here's why.

Books

Books are indeed more reliable than the sources shown on the internet because they have been reviewed before publishing. The information of books stays for a long period, and if you take care of your books, just like what my grandparents did, future. generations can benefit from it. While int the internet, you may have the information quickly and easily but it can change every hour. Just like here on reading cash. We, the authors can edit. our articles if we need to delete, add, or change something in it. And what's not good on the internet was, there are lots of plagiarized articles and texts scattered throughout the web.

Books can give you intact information about a certain subject. As the internet gives you hundreds of answers from a certain topic you have searched, your book can give you the appropriate and intact subject you're searching for. As a book is single topic information, you will get all the information and knowledge related to your queries. And also, before the internet came, books are the most trusted and reliable source of information by humans.

Your books don't need any power, electricity nor needs full battery, unlike your phone and computer. As books are printed materials it doesn't require a source of energy to be able to use and read. If you don't have power at home, you can use gas lamps or candles and you're ready to read. I also saw some documentaries were kids living at mountain ranges, and too far rural areas that are not reachable by the internet and electricity use books as their source of information and knowledge.

Books are child friendly. As I've mentioned above, books are reviewed before published and distributed. Which means books are controlled certain topics. Children's related books are separated from adult books especially books with explicit topics, unlike the internet where some users are kids. And sadly, some kids using it are not under the supervision of an adult. And through thorough browsing, the web, some topics for the audiences are not controlled. Children may expose themselves to prohibited topics and violence.

Books help in enhancing your vocabulary and range of knowledge. As books were reviewed first, grammatical errors and spelling of words are checked, which helps you build and gain more knowledge in constructing your grammar and comprehension. You may also encounter new words that can be added to your vocabulary, yet you can also find it on the internet which is both beneficial.

Also, books produce no harmful effects on our health, not unless if you read in a darker place which can cause harshness to your eyes. Unlike in your screen (phone, laptops, computers, etc.) which can cause harmful effects on your body, in your health because of radiation. Smartphones, computers, and other gadgets are known to emit radiation, and because it was used by humans more often, it inevitably raises our risk of exposure. Radiation is harmful because it damages the cells that make up the human body. However, low levels of radiation are not that dangerous, but medium levels can lead to sickness, headaches, vomiting, and fever. And I know of you, or should I say us has experienced this. Let's just be honest, we can feel dizziness and sickness if we've too much exposure to our gadgets.

And one of the most important reasons why books are irreplaceable by your screen was there's no greater feeling of seeing your writings are being published and printed permanently as books. Where you can see, feel the pages, touch and hold its surface, skim the pages through and you can see people's facial expressions, reactions personally as they read your books.

No doubt the internet is certainly one of the most remarkable technological developments in the history of mankind. It's because of the internet why we are here in this platform.With its ability to connect us all, no matter where the place you are from. Sharing our thoughts and ideas and meeting having virtual connections.

But books are irreplaceable, that's for me. Though the internet offers a faster and wide range of sources books are more reliable. And you'll know that the sources in books are legitimate than that on the internet. But still, it varies through situations and person to person. Though using books references is better but consulting the internet sometimes isn't bad. It's just a matter of being open-minded, using, consulting, and reading books are safer and better yet you can browse the internet to add some information too. But just be very careful and attentive in every information you're taking. Both are beneficial if used properly.

So it doesn't matter if you're a bookworm or not, what matters most is being responsible in what medium you prefer in writing, gathering, and sharing information, may it be from a book or your screen.

written by: @eommaZel 📖 🥀

Images from Unsplash 🖤

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