Bedtime stories in the age of kindle and podcasts

Technology has altered our lives in almost every possible way. Today's generation won't understand the excitement of getting your first book as a Christmas present. Every other kid now has a kindle. 

Earlier, parents used to read to their children at night for a good night's sleep, but now as technology has taken over, they just read from their kindles and sleep. Bedtime stories from different comics were a delight for children. They used to wait for the whole day their parents would come and mimic the characters leading to laughter and memories.

The practice of reading to children at night had its benefits too- 

• It will cultivate the reading habit in children too. 
• Importance of family time. 
• Children will find it easy to connect with the parents regarding anything. 

Bedtime stories were a way of connecting to children and knowing about their lives. After a busy day, one can always look up to spend some quality time with family. But now technology has ruined that for everyone. People are mostly on their phones after work or classes. Earlier, children used to wait for their parents to come and read them stories to bed.

However, books and Kindle both have their advantages and disadvantages. 

Pros of online reading- 

• Portability, a kindle is easy to carry anywhere. A book, on the other hand, can be heavy and you cannot take it everywhere. 
• Convenience, if you feel you want to read a Harry Potter book sitting at an airport. A kindle can be helpful in this situation. However, for a book, you would have to wait till you get home or for your order to be delivered. 
• New books are available within a few days of launching on a kindle. Whereas, books for the same are expensive and hard to find. 

Cons of online reading- 

• You can't collect classic books and call them your own. 
• You cannot compare the wonderful smell of the book with a kindle.
• You learn a lot about being patient and a good reader by reading a book. 
• You make a lot of friends by lending and sharing books.  
• You can support your local libraries by reading and lending books from there. 

It is evident from our lifestyles that technology has changed our lives in a way we never imagined. It has hampered our family time and the spirit of vacations. Earlier, the meaning of vacations was to spend time with family and cousins. We should focus more on our surroundings than just looking down at our phones. 

By Muskan Srivastava