Should schools start using electronic textbooks to save paper?
The Over Deforestation of trees has been a reoccurring issue that the whole world has been experiencing since a long time ago. Numerous laws and regulations have been added and implemented in order to solve the problem which ultimately weakened the issue, but weakened or not the issue still remains. Now, people all over the world are trying to think of ways to further lessen this issue, and coincidentally as time passed by, the advancement in technology has grown to the point where we have now come to the point where we are fully capable of taking care of a few contemporary issues that before were simply impossible. In other words, our options to help our world have now increased dramatically over the years, and because of this I want to address this certain topic that I find very intriguing while giving my honest opinion about it.
“Should schools start using electronic textbooks to save paper?” If I was asked for my opinion and answer to the question, I would personally say that I’m in favor for it. I mean if we look into the pros of switching to electronic textbooks from traditional books you can’t help to be persuaded. Pro number 1, first of all, it tackles what I just wrote earlier in the text “Deforestation may have been weakened but still exists”, it was stated that about 14% of deforestation is done to satisfy our huge appetite for paper goods, so if we switch to E-books that percentage may lessen by a huge margin, meaning at least 8% of deforestation which amounts to around 2.4 million hectares of forest each year may be avoided. Pro number 2, The life cycle of paper is in itself damaging to the environment, it starts off with a tree being cut down and ends with its life either being burned or rotting which either way would emit harmful toxins to our earth’s atmospheres. Pro number 3, One of the biggest drawbacks of traditional textbooks is its accessibility, textbooks in general are heavy to carry around, especially when you consider that students have to usually carry a textbook for each subject that they are taking that weight accumulates. Electronic textbooks eliminate this issue, electronic textbooks are accessible on lightweight devices such as laptops and smartphones, meaning as long as you carry a device with you it is possible to access your textbooks.
Now electronic textbooks do have its fair share of cons as well, such as, when a wireless connection isn’t available the digital textbook would in turn be unavailable not unless downloaded, looking at a screen can strain your eyes and might permanently damage your eyesight, and using digital textbooks may distract students due to digital textbooks being on a device since students might be tempted to visit other sites instead of studying such as social media. But even with all of these mentioned, after comparing them I still believe the pros outweigh the cons by a margin. I believe that that the good it brings far outweighs the bad it carries and that I, as a student, personally am fully willing to accept this change.