Essay1 Reporting Information Should Tablets Replace Textbooks

Name: Chi Lan Le
Instructor: Dr. Christ Snellgrove
Course: ENC1101 – Spring 2015
Date: 01/30/2015
Should tablets replace textbooks?
Nowadays, with the improvements of technology, mobile devices were invented in order to make the world developed, connected and managed. One of the newest invention is tablets. With touch-screen display included cameras, microphones, accelerometer and other utilities as a computer, tablets participated to supporting education. People choose tablet because of its proficient functions and the convenient appearance. In recent years, tablets have become what people use for substituting traditional textbooks; we can simply either purchase or rental books through online bookstores just like the regular textbooks. However, beside the benefits of tablets there are some opinions disagree that tablets shouldn’t be used to substitute traditional textbooks. So should textbooks be replaced by tablets?
Tablets becomes so popular today. Not only with young adults, there are also kids and elder people have great experiences on using them. In the online news “Why is your Ipad almost always the cheapest way to get your textbooks?” in August, 12th 2012, Buster Hein states: “The market for physical print can be a bit unpredictable. You might be able to find a great deal on Amazon or someone giving away the textbook you need on Craigslist. The availability of eTextbooks should increase dramatically every year. So if you’re starting your freshman year of college, buying eTextbooks should be a safe strategy, whereas juniors and seniors might be leery to ditch print.” By sharing the big chart full of prices to compare book prices of two college students from different school bookstores and online bookstores need for their semesters, Buster point out the big difference between traditional textbook and eTextbook prices. If she chooses eTextbooks, they can be able to save at least forty dollars and over for each book either they buy or rent. And in a couple year they can use that saving for a new tablet. Knowing that college tuitions are always be concerned, especially by those in freshman year that doesn’t have much experienced, so that would be a smart way. They can easily find books in many commercial websites. With the memory is about 8GB, which can be the same as a laptop memory, not just a few books that students need in a semester, a regular tablet can contain thousand books. With young kids, using tablet can promote them to be more creative and make fun studying. According to a teacher in a secondary school, whereby the 8-years old students used tablets in science classes, “Using tablets is extremely advantages for field trips (geology for example). They can be used to take photos which can then be used in class to do drawings.” (Touch tablets in the classroom: what are the advantages? Following the school, in classes, kids can “evaluate language skills” by making stories based on the photo gallery, recording and listening to them.
Beside the positive effects that tablets provide for the education, there are also many people complain that tablets can cause health problems such as: eyes strains, neck strains, or even mental distress,…etc. which as many parents worry about their children. Some health experts told: “tablets, much like computers and smartphone screens, are contributing to a host of problems known as "computer vision syndrome." (“iStrain: Tablets and iPads can cause eye problems”). They explain that when we are using tablets, the eyes need to shift in and out to focusing to the screens for so long so that is the reason cause eye strain. More than that, drying or irritated eyes is happened when we forget blink the eyes enough. Also, in the article “Toddlers who use tablets or smartphones may develop long-term…” by Emma Innes, to Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Health Board tablets revealed that using electronic devices make young adults and children are facing “Healthcare time boom” of neck and back pain”. Their research shows that a big part of students from primary schools and secondary schools reported their neck and back pain in 2012. When they using tablets, they have to strain their neck and look downward to the screens. Overusing them will make their neck and back get tired and to young adults and children this often happens. Reality, electronic devices, especially tablets, are very attractive to young adults and children. Beside studying on tablets, children can spend many hours or a whole day sitting with their video games or popular variety of apps and that can make them forgetting learning. Most of K-12 teachers believe that "today’s digital technologies are creating an easily distracted generation with short attention spans"; “Four-fifths of students aged 8 - 18 multitask while using digital media” (“Tablets vs. Textbooks - ProCon.org”). They think that excepting the helpful educated programs in tablets there are many apps, websites, emails, games will pop up when they are studying can make young students get interrupted and draw in quickly. Like tablets, textbooks have advantages and disadvantages. Those who prefer textbooks said that textbooks are simple to use. They explain that can write or make a small notes right directed on their textbooks when tablets do not let them to do that. Flipping the pages back and forward also seems to be easier to do with traditional textbooks than with tablets. In addition, using textbooks also prevents students cheating by using their tablets for internet researching. Otherwise, the article “Backpack Safety 101” revealed, “According to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, more than 28,000 people were treated for backpack-related injuries in the United States last year.”(John O’Rourke). Bring textbooks to school became a serious problem to students. Every school day, each student usually need to have three or more textbooks to classes. In the interview Karen Jacob, a Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences professor, she reported that students have to carry backpacks that weigh more than forty percent of a their weight. To solve that problem, Brenda Álvarez assumed “Benefits of students using tablets instead of textbooks are that they’re lighter than print textbooks…” (“As More Schools Embrace Tablets, Do Textbooks Have a Fighting Chance?”). Obviously, a tablets only about 1 pound; it is small and convenient to fit in student backpacks. And others people think we are wasting a huge amount of trees to make traditional textbooks. An opinion of a teacher named Xavier Casanova: “I personally think that school should discontinue the use of textbooks. I think that they’re a complete waste of space and paper now a day.” (“Should schools continue to use textbooks, why or why not?”). She also think it is better for student if they switching into electronic devices like: tablets, computers, IReader, Ipad… students can do their homework, assignments right on the devices and save paper and trees. However, to debate this argument Jonny Tank said: “that it’s definitely worth giving up a few trees for some textbooks because we use them daily and after they have been used for a few years, they can be recycled so that you can make even more textbooks.”
To comparing textbooks and tablets, I did a small survey to find out which one should be using. The research was made to ask all students in my Algebra College class. I chose this class because students in class were introduced to using Aleks website for this class, which provides Math textbooks and assignments. At my survey, there are thirty people included teenagers, young adults and older people so it can be reliable and diversity for the result. I asked them: “Would you like to read in traditional paper books or in tablets?” Overall, there are eighty percent of students choose to use tablets, and the rest of them choose to use traditional paper textbooks. Those who think using traditional textbooks is better complain that tablets can caused their eye blurred and dry when they using too long. Some others said that it interrupted them when they were using their tablets outside like in school or at a coffee shop and the tablets run out of battery. And also they would like to flip the pages when they are reading than touching on the screens. Conversely, people who choose to switch into using tablets, which is mostly young teenager and young adult, had said: “It is convenient by using tablets, because they can have any book that you need everywhere.” Some of them also think textbooks are so heavy for them to carry to school, so they choose tablets because they are much lighter. And some other like the way they can also do assignments on their tablets and tablets always update new book versions and information support researching. Furthermore, they think it’s ok to your eyes if you take a quick break to relax after about one hour of using tablets. And to me, between a traditional textbook and a digital textbooks, I would like to choose reading the digital one because it’s cheaper for me to pay and I got helpful facilitating over the instructed videos in every lesson as well. Overall, with the positive effects through using Aleks digital textbooks, the result shows tablets have voted by most of people in my class. Through all research, I can simply conclude that textbooks should be replaced by tablets. Based on them, we can see a large part of teacher from elementary schools and middle school agree that tablets help kids get more creative, and improve their communicated skills. We can be able to pay much cheaper when we purchase books online instead of traditional textbooks. Tablets is small and convenient to put in backpacks so it can destroy the fear of heavy textbooks for students. And some teachers think we should stop making traditional paper textbooks from cutting too many trees. Therefore, instead of ignoring tablets from causing health problems, let’s using them with appropriated methods.