My website, http://www.bookrix.com/, is a place where you can view books for free online in the actual form of a book. The imagery is shown as an open book and by clicking on the arrow it will turn the page for you. Birkerts believes that the technology of reading online will hinder a person’s ability to be able to truly feel emotions the way they were intended to be felt. Even though Birkerts says, ” We sacrifice the potential life of the solitary self by enlisting ourselves in the collective”, I believe that the internet actually opens up a person to access to a better understanding of texts. It should not make a difference as to which vessel you read from be it a book or an online text. Either way you are gaining the information and are able to read it in a way that is most convenient for that specific individual. A point that could be used against my argument is that Birkerts says that because of the internet we are trained to multi task and be rushed. The fact that the mind wanders could hinder a person’s ability to focus on the text at hand. This argument is valid but not necessarily true for all who choose to read online. Online reading is more convenient and therefore more information can be obtained than having to search down the information else where.
