My Kindle & Technology with the Grandkids






Saturday we attended Jack's (our 6 year old grandson) first soccer game of the spring.  He was very enthusiastic and seemed to thoroughly enjoy every aspect of the game.

While sitting and watching, the 3 other grandchildren played with our technology-the cell phones and my Kindle.  They did not need any instructions but seem to use it very intuitively.  

Last year I purchased an electronic book reader called the Kindle from Amazon.com.  But to say it is just a book reader is like saying the computer is just a typewriter.  I have found many great features of the Kindle that aren't really showcased by Amazon.  This includes web access.  I use the Kindle for checking email and Facebook while we are traveling.  Amazon does not charge for this service because they use it for downloading your purchases.  Which, by the way, is my favorite feature of the Kindle.  I can pick a book and make one click and it is downloaded immediately.  No waiting.  Of course there is the $10 charge but that is for any book even best-sellers which cost much more in the store.  This makes the Kindle a dangerous piece of technology.  I can hear about a book and within minutes, I can have it in my possession.

Many of my friends have told me that they prefer to read actual books because that it part of the joy of reading.   But looking at my grandkids, I can tell that the next generation of readers will be very much at home reading from a screen and may even find the old method of going to a store or a library to get a book will be too slow and old fashioned for them.

  I may even be feeling that now too.  I'm considering canceling our Grand Rapids Press subscription for that very reason.  Lately I've been getting the paper only to realize that I have heard or read almost all the stories earlier in the day-usually on-line.  It may be that printed newspapers are becoming outdated because information is now available immediately throughout the day.

What do you think?  

Comments

  1. auntie skiApril 22, 2009 at 4:16 AM

    Love that happy smile while Kindle reading.... and look at how easy it is to see the screen even from the camera lense, and in bright light!
    So what were the kids doing with the cell phones? Texting each other? I know they aren't PDA phones, so.... ?

    ReplyDelete
  2. BrendaApril 22, 2009 at 4:23 AM

    The kids were calling each other but Madelynn called her father who was out on the field coaching the team. I saw him pull out the phone and check who it was from and then noticed was Madelynn giggling.

    When we got home, Tom noticed he had a message and it was from Madelynn during the game. So they just were fooling around.

    ReplyDelete

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