Print versus digital
By Dr. Selim Erhan, TLT Editor | TLT From the Editor June 2024
The sensory experience of reading a physical book or magazine offers a special combination of learning and relaxation.
We are entering the summer months, a time for vacations and school holidays, and warmer weather for most of us. Our intense conference activities are replaced with more outdoor activities: gardening, longer walks, cycling, swimming, beach activities, boating, camping and much more. Catching up on reading I am sure will be another enjoyable part of these more relaxing times. This brings a topic that most of us are on the fence about. Should we read electronic books, or should we carry a printed book or a printed magazine? Paper books and magazines are heavier and take up more space. Even at home they take up shelf space. I am writing about this because occasionally at STLE we discuss the subject of whether the society should continue with both print and digital versions.
I grew up with printed materials. I love to feel a book and underline sentences so I can find them later. I love the covers, the smell—everything about a book. I love bookstores where you can walk around and come across subjects and books you would never think of looking for. This is how I grew up, so I am biased. I frequently push myself to be open minded and accept that digital copies are much more practical, but so far it has not worked, and I think I have a point.
Let’s first take the statement “out of sight, out of mind.” It is very true! When we can utilize as many senses as possible, it helps us concentrate more. The mind is very fast and can jump from subject to subject very quickly. To be able to concentrate on a single subject for a period needs effort. Utilizing all our senses helps. I am convinced the popularity of sports comes from the ability to concentrate on one thing until we get exhausted. It could be a ball, a frisbee, a bicycle, water. In all we have all our senses involved in intense concentration, which then is followed by relaxation and the great pleasure of resting. This single-minded focus is very relaxing and calming and charges us to handle new challenges.
Recently I was invited to a piano recital. It was at the house of a pianist friend. She had invited about 20 guests. We all sat in her living room, and she played for an hour. This was my first time at such an event, and it was immensely enjoyable! While listening I noticed several things. First the gathering was very small. Unlike a large concert hall where we can often isolate ourselves in our minds among the crowd, here one felt much more connected. It felt as if others would sense if you started to drift into some other thoughts. Then there was the music—the notes and sound were so close that one felt like floating in the melodies. Again, there was that atmosphere where the mind could focus on just one subject, almost to the point of exhaustion followed by a warm feeling of relaxation.
This is what I think also happens when one reads a physical book. The book in our hands forces us to concentrate on what is written. It is almost like a living being that is with us while we float into the subject that is written in the lines. I am sure many people have read John Steinbeck’s novels. I recently read “The Pearl,” a short novel that made me feel like I was part of the story. Of course, the writer has a lot to do with it, but there are many good authors that create that intensity.
Coming back to TLT, I think physical magazines have the advantage of giving easy access to the articles and the pictures and the ads all at once. It is like physical photo albums versus the pictures that are stored in our computers. I remember the time when I developed rolls of film after a vacation. When the pictures came back, I sorted and arranged them on the pages of albums. It took a long time, but there was great enjoyment in reliving the scenes again and again. Then, when I went through the album, I could see eight to 10 pictures on two pages spread out in front of me. I could flip through several pages in a short time and get in the mood and retain all I saw. Now I have thousands of pictures neatly stored in hundreds of digital files from many trips and many occasions. They just sit there with no one looking at them for a very long period. Out of sight and out of mind! But again, I may be too biased, so I wish everyone an enjoyable time with your articles, books and magazines—whichever way you want to read them!
Dr. Selim Erhan is director of business development for Process Oils Inc. in Trout Valley, Ill. You can reach him at serhan@processoilsinc.com.