Reading Physical Books vs. EBooks on the Subway
Introduction
As an avid reader, watching people read on the subway is interesting to me. Seeing what book a person is reading and trying to figure out what type of person they might be based on that one little bit of information has become a sort of hobby of mine. However, I’ve noticed that it’s much more difficult to see what a person is reading if they’re reading on an ebook or their phone. This made me realize a huge advantage to reading on ebooks that I hadn’t considered before; the privacy of it even out in public. So I decided to see how many people choose to read on ebooks, phones, and other smart devices versus how many people choose to read physical books, magazines, and newspapers. …show more content…
While my intent for this research was to compare how many people read ebooks versus physical books, I instead observed that much less people read at all during these times, which could be due to these times being rush hours. Erving Goffman’s idea of civil inattention clearly plays a big role in this research. Why people would choose to read ebooks over physical books or why people wouldn’t read at all on the subway during these times both have to do with the concept of civil inattention. The setting of NYC subways also plays a big role in civil inattention.
Literature Review
Methodology
The way I made my observations differed between morning and afternoon. In the …show more content…
Civil inattention played a role in every aspect of my observations in this research; when people on the trains were reading, where they were on the trains, whether they were reading an ebook or a physical book, and whether they were on a subway or a LIRR train. People not reading on the subway during rush hours were practicing civil inattention because they knew that holding a book would take up room and would position elbows in awkward places when it’s so crowded. People who did read during rush hours were also practicing civil inattention by realizing in inconveniences and so chose to either sit down while reading or chose to read ebooks instead of physical books because ebooks require only one hand to hold and simply swipe a finger to turn the page while a physical book would require two hands. More people reading on the LIRR trains than on the subways is also an indication of civil inattention because people realized that LIRR trains have much more room for more people to sit comfortably than on subways and so wouldn’t inconvenience anyone by reading. Another way that civil inattention was practiced in a way that I initially had not considered was other people observing those who were reading. Those who were not reading that were around those who were also practiced civil inattention by moving and positioning themselves in ways that didn’t
Introduction
As an avid reader, watching people read on the subway is interesting to me. Seeing what book a person is reading and trying to figure out what type of person they might be based on that one little bit of information has become a sort of hobby of mine. However, I’ve noticed that it’s much more difficult to see what a person is reading if they’re reading on an ebook or their phone. This made me realize a huge advantage to reading on ebooks that I hadn’t considered before; the privacy of it even out in public. So I decided to see how many people choose to read on ebooks, phones, and other smart devices versus how many people choose to read physical books, magazines, and newspapers. …show more content…
While my intent for this research was to compare how many people read ebooks versus physical books, I instead observed that much less people read at all during these times, which could be due to these times being rush hours. Erving Goffman’s idea of civil inattention clearly plays a big role in this research. Why people would choose to read ebooks over physical books or why people wouldn’t read at all on the subway during these times both have to do with the concept of civil inattention. The setting of NYC subways also plays a big role in civil inattention.
Literature Review
Methodology
The way I made my observations differed between morning and afternoon. In the …show more content…
Civil inattention played a role in every aspect of my observations in this research; when people on the trains were reading, where they were on the trains, whether they were reading an ebook or a physical book, and whether they were on a subway or a LIRR train. People not reading on the subway during rush hours were practicing civil inattention because they knew that holding a book would take up room and would position elbows in awkward places when it’s so crowded. People who did read during rush hours were also practicing civil inattention by realizing in inconveniences and so chose to either sit down while reading or chose to read ebooks instead of physical books because ebooks require only one hand to hold and simply swipe a finger to turn the page while a physical book would require two hands. More people reading on the LIRR trains than on the subways is also an indication of civil inattention because people realized that LIRR trains have much more room for more people to sit comfortably than on subways and so wouldn’t inconvenience anyone by reading. Another way that civil inattention was practiced in a way that I initially had not considered was other people observing those who were reading. Those who were not reading that were around those who were also practiced civil inattention by moving and positioning themselves in ways that didn’t