Positive & Negative Aspects of -- Audiobooks - Physical Books - Ebooks

As you may have seen in my first post, I am a big proponent of audiobooks because they fit into my life well.  As an educator, I do see the benefits and necessities of all three.  As a parent and adult human in the world, I also see how the usage of each could shift throughout a person's life.

Audiobooks

As you'll be able to see in my Bridges Recap series, Audiobooks have made up the majority of my leisure reading since 2015.  I grew up listening to many Audiobooks on family driving drips.  We would check out the books from the library and listen to them in the car.  

Audiobook Positives

1. Listening Comprehension:  Auditory comprehension develops before reading comprehension develops.  This helps nonreaders have access to stories when older readers are not available to read to them.
2. Vision Accessibility:  Readers who have had a lot of screen time throughout their day don't have to look at screens to read.  Vision impaired people also don't have to worry about font size.

Audiobook Negatives

1. Digital Access: For many audiobook services like Libby, you do need to have a device and internet access.
2. Technology: Besides having a phone or something that can download an app, other audiobooks are on CDs or cassette tapes.  Many people no longer have access to something that would play those.  Unless you're old enough to drive and your car has a player, younger readers will generally need someone to help them get set up.  

Physical Books

I loved reading physical books until about high school when there was a lot more required reading.  I stayed up later than I should have reading books all throughout elementary school.  I took books with me everywhere, but just have never been able to read in the car.  As a parent, we have so many kids books.  Sensory books and board books are a bit hit in our house, since our son is not yet a year old.  Books can be great starting points for important conversations with students or your own children.

Physical Book Positives

1. Opportunity: Physical books are very prevalent in large parts of the world.  With public library access so widespread, most people have access to physical books.  
2. Learning Potential: Having access to physical books growing up leads to children learning a lot of foundational skills--especially concepts of print. 
3. Artwork: Some of my favorite artwork is from children's books.  Books can expose people to varieties of styles of artwork.  The illustrations in books can also enhance and aid in reading comprehension.  Even novels include not only great cover art, but beautiful and helpful maps.  

Physical Book Negatives

1. Opportunity:  Sometimes, a person's access to a library or physical book source is limited by others.  For instance, a kid might not have many books in their home because their parents do not enjoy reading or the books available are not at the child's level or interest.
2. Size: Physical books simply take up space.  They are going to be larger than a phone with an audiobooks app or an ereader.

Ebooks

While Libby and Bridges do let you check out Ebooks, I have never actually checked one out from either.  I have a few Ebooks in my apple library that were free because they are in the public domain.  I actually used an ebook/pdf of a book that was in the public domain for a class in college when I found out I had ordered the wrong version of the book.  I continued to use ebooks on my laptop for a few other books in college, so I could give my eyes a break.

Ebook Positives

1. Audio Accessibility:  Often, ebook readers will also read the book to you.  You can have it start reading where you are at.  Then you can have it stop reading to you, and pick up reading yourself.  
2. Visual Accessibility:  Many players will let you change font size, font color, background color, etc.  This can help with with dyslexia and other brain or visual needs.
3. Size:  One ereader could fit many books, but take up very little space when traveling.

Ebook Negatives

1. Digital Access:  Access to a device or ereader and internet is needed.  While internet access is usually only needed to download a new book, it can still make it difficult if you don't have access in the first place.  
2. Cost: Many ereaders have monthly costs associated.  While this can be cheaper than purchasing all the books, it is more expensive than a free library book.
3. Screen Time: If you already have a lot of screen time, this may not be the greatest option for a leisure activity.  It also is not usually a great idea to look at screens when you're winding down to sleep.  While many readers have settings to help reduce blue light, they do not reduce the negative screen time impacts to zero.

Conclusion

Throughout a person's life, I think all three could be necessary and helpful.  Right now in my life, I find Audibooks the most helpful.  I read a lot of academic books for my job already, so reading physical books is not often pleasurable for me at the moment.  I can also listen while doing other activities like laundry or driving the half hour to daycare pick up.  

The only place I use any sort of ereader app is on my phone, which often seems too small.  Also, still having easy access to all my other apps makes it difficult to focus.  

For my son, physical books are all he currently uses.  We have his books it baskets by his toys, so he will go back and forth from playing with a toy to flipping through a book.  He currently does not get any screen time yet, so ereaders are not something he can use yet.  He does just end up hearing a lot of my audiobooks, so he's using those on accident.  

What other positives and negatives have you found with Audiobooks, Physical Books, or Ebooks?  How do they fit into your life right now?