{"id":62053,"date":"2019-05-18T05:33:18","date_gmt":"2019-05-18T09:33:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/?p=62053"},"modified":"2019-05-15T10:07:48","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T14:07:48","slug":"smartphone-as-mobile-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/05\/smartphone-as-mobile-library.html","title":{"rendered":"Smartphone as Mobile Library"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I really appreciate the \u201cBook Addict\u2019s Defense of the Smartphone\u201d<\/a> which made the following case:<\/p>\n

My point is not that I don\u2019t think that smartphones can cause problems for attention, focus, and interpersonal relationships.\u00a0 I\u2019ll stipulate that we have not adjusted to the downsides of having the internet \u2013 and everything that comes along with the web \u2013 in our pockets.<\/p>\n

What I am saying is that the advantages of being to store, listen to, and read books \u2013\u00a0 wherever and whenever \u2013\u00a0outweigh all the smartphone negatives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The audiobook and the e-book, purchased (or borrowed) and read\/listened to on a smartphone, is the game changer for book lovers.<\/p>\n

Strangely, the wonderful opportunities to spend more time reading books that smartphones have enabled has gone largely uncelebrated. Academics \u2013 we people of the book \u2013 should be overjoyed about the potential of the smartphone to increase reading time.<\/p>\n

We should be making the argument that the problem with the smartphone is not the device, but how people use it.\u00a0 Delete that Facebook app.\u00a0 Get rid of Twitter.\u00a0 Take the games off the phone.\u00a0 Maybe even remove your e-mail accounts.<\/p>\n

Keep the Kindle and Audible apps.\u00a0 (Or whatever e-book and audiobook app that you use).<\/p>\n

Think only of the smartphone as a reading device and a bookshelf.<\/p>\n

Do you use your phone to read books?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This fits my experience. I\u2019ve read a book related to a book project on my phone in the checkout line at the supermarket. I\u2019ve listened to an audiobook while I drove three hours to a conference \u2013 an audiobook that was directly relevant to what I was slated to present on when I arrived! I\u2019ve enjoyed more fiction listening in the car as I go to and from work. I\u2019ve enjoyed the ability to read a book in German and easily look up words I didn\u2019t know or couldn\u2019t remember from within the ebook app rather than having to consult something separate.<\/p>\n

This is not to deny the downside, as illustrated by these recent articles:<\/p>\n

The Chronicle of Higher Education<\/em> had a great article about digital distraction in the classroom<\/a>. The\u00a0New York Times<\/em><\/a> had a series of opinion<\/a> pieces about privacy in the digital age<\/a>, part of what they are calling The Privacy Project<\/a>. But despite what James Martin says<\/a>, the notion of privacy is pretty much unknown in the Bible or anywhere else in the ancient world.<\/p>\n

When it comes to data about teen use of technology, this statistic is sobering<\/a>:<\/p>\n

PEW tried to assess just how heavily cell phones are being used by asking teens to classify their use into descriptive categories \u2013 almost constantly, several times a day, less often. The almost constantly description rose from 24% in 2014 to 45% in 2018.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Nevertheless, I\u2019m inclined to agree that the key issue is how the devices are used. What if we encourage more reading\/listening, rather than discouraging social media and devices per se<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Also relevant, here is an article from a few years ago about academic reading on a Kindle<\/a>. I don\u2019t own or use a Kindle, although I do use the Kindle app on my phone sometimes. Should I have a Kindle? Why or why not?<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I really appreciate the \u201cBook Addict\u2019s Defense of the Smartphone\u201d which made the following case: My point is not that I don\u2019t think that smartphones can cause problems for attention, focus, and interpersonal relationships.\u00a0 I\u2019ll stipulate that we have not adjusted to the downsides of having the internet \u2013 and everything that comes along with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":63458,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[96],"tags":[893,2944,6549,16030],"class_list":["post-62053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-audiobooks","tag-ebooks","tag-library","tag-smartphones"],"yoast_head":"\nSmartphone as Mobile Library<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I really appreciate the "Book Addict's Defense of the Smartphone" which made the following case: My point is not that I don\u2019t think that smartphones can\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/05\/smartphone-as-mobile-library.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Smartphone as Mobile Library\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I really appreciate the "Book Addict's Defense of the Smartphone" which made the following case: My point is not that I don\u2019t think that smartphones can\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/religionprof\/2019\/05\/smartphone-as-mobile-library.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Religion Prof: The Blog of James F. 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