Retiring my Kindle?

I know, I know it’s weird that the follow up to the Cardiff post won’t be about my vaction at all, but about… books. The main reason for that though is that it’s easier to write a relatively short one on my phone about books instead of a longer one about my wonderful two weeks on Wales. It also has been #BookLoverDay this week, so the timing seems fitting.

One of my “goals” for these past two weeks has been to cut down on the time I spend on my phone. Checking Twitter, Instagram, News, etc. Even though I did a few Insta stories, I think I did quite well with that. I kicked all those apps from my home screen to avoid the quick click and even when I posted to an Insta story, I rarely automatically checked my feed as well. So go me!

Another thing which I recently realised kept me on my phone too much was the Kindle App. For a long time I considered it quite neat that I could use a short break (waiting in line somewhere….) to read a bit of my current book. And I’ve read a lot. On my Kindle at home or via the app on my phone. It had a bit of binge-reading quality as I have to admit I’ve not been very “mindful” about what I read. It often was more of a distraction / procrastination than real mindful reading. I did enjoy what I read most of the time, but if you ask me about the plot and character names of a book I’ve read like five books ago, I’d probably draw a blank. And that feels… a bit worrying to me to be honest. Furthermore I’ve recently subscribed to the digital version of a daily newspaper and that’s leads to more words to read on the small screen, even if I’m already selective about which articles to read.

So when I was browsing Waterstones in Cardiff almost two weeks ago I saw a new Lucy Diamond novel as paperback – with the “buy one get one for half price” sticker on it. So I bought two new paperbacks to read. Because I all of sudden in that moment realized – or at least had a vague notion – that my digital reading habit might be a bit of a… not a “problem” as such, but not the most productive or healthy either. Binging and all.

One of my main points for using a Kindle to read (and buy) my novels these past few years was that almost every book I wanted to read was so readily available. Just with one click. OK, a few more clicks than one, but basically just a matter of seconds instead of either ordering it in a bookstore or have it delivered after a day as I usually only read novels in English and they are not always in stock at the store. That was the irresistible temptation of Waterstones I guess also of WHS in Tenby yesterday, where I bought two more books ;-). Another point for Kindle instead of real books for me has been that my living room book shelves were full already. “I don’t have any more space for real books” was my line of reasoning for years. But that’s a lie to be honest, because some of the shelves in my living room are filled with random junk and I’ve also got some bare walls in my bedroom. So maybe it’s just time to buy some additional book shelves…?

I wish I could say “and yes, of course I don’t want to support Amazon’s sometimes dubious business politics anymore”, but that would make me a hypocrite. Because I knew all about that for years and still used Kindle / shopped on Amazon (even as a Prime member) regardless. And I won’t completely ditch my Kindle now, because it has got a lot of books I like and might want to reread some day on it and I’m not going to buy all those again as paperback to prove my point.

But basically I think I might go back to the “real stuff” for a while now and see how I can handle it. I just have to remember to always pack my book if I think I might have to or could pass some time. But that’s how I managed my reading habit for the first 35 or so years of my life. I’m sure I’ll quickly get back in the swing of it…

This entry was posted in Archive and tagged , . Bookmark the permalink.