by Raelene Gorlinsky
E-Books Make Readers Less Isolated (The New York Times)
by Austin Considine, 8/20/10
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/fashion/22Noticed.html?_r=1&ref=technology
Yep, I've noticed the same thing, and heard it from others. If you are reading a book in public, it's usually taken as a social signal that you do not want to be interrupted. But be using an e-reader, and suddenly everyone wants to talk to you about it. Strangers will ask what brand it is, was it expensive, do you like it, how is it different from reading a paper book? And it's "cool" to be using an e-reader, rather than look like an antisocial bookworm.
The same does not apply to reading on your laptop or cell phone in public - then you look like you're busy, uninterruptable, doing work or carrying on a phone/text conversation.
So carry your e-reader with you, and pull it out when you want to make friends in a crowd.
What happens in the Cave doesn't always stay there... Conversations and news from Ellora's Cave Publishing, an erotic romance publisher.
I haven't splurged on an ereader yet, but I haven't found reading a book convinces people to leave me alone. I get plenty of 'what are you reading questions' as well 'oh I loved/hated that book, have you gotten to the part where....' and even one very long conversation with an odd man about how horrible it was that people didn't leave you along when all you want is some quiet time to read your book.
ReplyDeleteIt's true. I was at the airport in Chicago and went up to talk to a woman using one. Wouldn't have done the same thing to someone with thier face in a book...
ReplyDeleteYup, every time I go to a restaurant with mine, the waitress asks me about it. I don't mind, I like being an e-reader evangelist...unless I'm reading erotica! When people walk up to me while I'm reading it, I have to tap quickly to get to the main menu, even though they're unlikely to catch any naughty words, I'm still paranoid. Just my luck, some old lady with great eyesight will sneak up and catch a glimpse of "he slid into her, his cock stretching her to the limit..." Eeek! LOL. I'm a closet erotica reader, can you tell? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling, Juliette! I took my ereader with me to visit my parents this weekend. I was indeed reading an erotic romance, and every time my mother got close I'd have to make sure I wasn't on a page with anything explicit. But the same thing would have happened if I'd been reading print, but then I'd also have had to put on a book cover to hide the sexy front cover.
ReplyDeleteRaelene