A Matter of Convenience?

This story begins with a gift card to Barnes & Noble which my sister-in-law had given to my husband and I last Christmas.  I was more of a Borders girl myself (which is a shame since they're going out of business) but I was not going to pass up the opportunity to get some books!

We ventured out on a Saturday afternoon with a simple enough mission which we thought would take us less than an hour.  There were just two books on our list:  The Autobiography of Mark Twain Vol. 1 and Baby Love.  We walked into the store and were immediately greeted by a huge kiosk for their Nook surrounded by throngs of people.  After navigating our way around the annoying obstacle we decided to start with hunting for Baby Love first.  It's a cookbook, so naturally we decided to head for the cookbook section.  It took us all of about three seconds to realize that there was absolutely no order to the books on the shelf.  We stood there for longer than I'd care to remember before deciding that we should see if they actually had the book in stock.

We set off to find a computer station to see if the book was A. in stock and B. where it would be if it was.  To our chagrin there were none to be found.  There has to be a way to look up a book, I thought.  They just can't have no catalog system...can they?  I mean, even the PUBLIC LIBRARY who's state funding was cut has a system.

We continued to wander around aimlessly and felt like two lost lambs who would never be reunited with their herd.

It was then that my husband decided to find an assistant to ask where the book might be.  We began what seemed like our fifteenth trek around the store to find a Barnes & Noble Employee.  After about half an hour we had found two people....two.  Both were at the information desk (which I would expect but I would also expect to find at least one or two others scattered about the store) and both were helping customers learn how to read a book.

OK, let me rephrase that.....both were helping customers learn how to read a book on their Nook.

I looked around to make sure I wasn't at the wrong kiosk.  After all, there was an entire station right inside the front entrance manned with three employees doing nothing but helping people acquire and learn how to use their Nooks.  Did we really need the only other two available assistants in the store doing exactly the same thing?  Apparently so, as everyone else standing around the information desk was holding a Nook. I watched them with some amusement as in turn they each glanced down at their Nook with a slightly bewildered expression.

Deciding we might have better luck if we split, my husband went off into the wilderness to try and find the Autobiography of Mark Twain while I waited in line around the information desk Nookless.  My expression was not bewildered, but as the minutes slowly ticked away and neither customer being helped seemed any closer to gaining the ability to read, it grew from slightly irritated to annoyed to down right livid.  I JUST WANT TO KNOW IF THIS BOOK IS SITTING ON A SHELF!!  I screamed in my head.

It was then that I heard one of the women ask how she could find a page, say page 246?  At this point the assistant went into this detailed explanation of which I immediately ignored.

Seriously? I thought.  SERIOUSLY?  Has reading really become so complicated that a woman in her early 50's needs instructions to find a page?

You want to find page 246?  I'll tell you how to find page 246.  You flip through the pages until the number 246 appears in your field of vision, usually in the upper left corner of the left page.  It is a process that usually takes about three seconds. 

I continued to wait, completely dumbfounded, until I was finally able to ascertain that Baby Love was in stock but The Autobiography of Mark Twain was not.  We purchased Baby Love and continued on our way after over three hours...a trip which should have taken about 40 minutes (including travel).



I tell you that story because it embodies one major and quite fundamental question which arises out of the Kindles and Nooks and e-books.

Are people using them out of a matter of convenience or simply because it's new and 'hip'?

Is the Nook really easier for that woman or any of the other people who were clinging to their devices with desperate hopes that this would be the last question they would have to ask?  When those people finally are able to use the Nook well enough, are they going to get as much enjoyment out of whatever they read as they would if they had just picked up the book and saved themselves that much aggravation?

I should also point out that it's not just an 'age' thing.  It's not just that the people who needed help that day were older and less technically savvy.  About half of the people standing around the information desk were in their late twenties and early thirties, an age where it is assumed using a Nook would be as easy as breathing.  Clearly it was not.  They stood looking just as lost and confused as the customers who were in their fifties and sixties.  

Have we really done this to ourselves?  Has the need to stay young and hip within our society forced us to make our lives that much more complicated?  We have taken reading a book, which should be as simple and enjoyable as listening to a musician practice in the comfort of their home, and have turned it into a major production on a large stage with bright costumes, flashing lights, huge sets, and fireworks. 

......Why?

Is it really a matter of convenience?

My book doesn't need a battery.

                                                                                                                              Does yours?