The ubiquitous book

Ever since the first hand-held e-readers were introduced in the 1990s, the digital-reading revolution has turned the publishing world upside down. But contrary to early predictions, it’s not the e-reader that will be driving future book sales, but the phone. ...

In a Nielsen survey of 2,000 people this past December, about 54% of e-book buyers said they used smartphones to read their books at least some of the time. That’s up from 24% in 2012, according to a separate study commissioned by Nielsen.

"The Rise of Phone Reading", WSJ August 14, 2015

So I am not the only person who regularly uses his phone as an e-book reader. It's not my first choice of readers - I use my Paperwhite Kindle or iPad much more, but the phone is a handy option when eating at Subway, waiting for a meeting to start, or when carrying another device (such as on a bike ride) is not practical.

The smartphone contains not just a ubiquitous camera, calendar, calculator, road map and dozens of other handy tools, but a ubiquitous book as well.

So remind me again why we ban smartphones in our schools and classrooms? Are we, as educators, sending the message that if you can't read on paper you shouldn't be reading at all?

It's not if your kids should be using a device, it's how your kids should be using their device.