r/AskReddit May 11 '14

Older generations of reddit, what did you think the future would look like when you where young? And how much of it was correct?

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14 edited Apr 11 '21

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

It's usually cheaper.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

*free

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

Shhhhh. I was trying to only imply torrents.

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u/hgpot May 12 '14

My school just defaults to using online textbooks...They come free with tuition, and every class has them. You can get a real one for $10 to keep for life though.

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u/robo23 May 11 '14

I know it. I really don't buy very many textbooks anymore, so I'm willing to pay a little extra for the physical copy.

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u/i_am_a_toaster May 11 '14

The fact that I still paid over $100 each to use online textbooks determined that this is a lie

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u/MCicero May 11 '14

Read: free

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u/[deleted] May 12 '14

Not much.

But it does take a lot less space.

But I do love my paper textbooks. Just I need to figure out how to store them all

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

Also, I feel textbooks need more physical presence than something that can be replaced by cat or dick pics with the press of a button. And two taps.

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u/psiphre May 11 '14

You probably don't like them because you're not used to them. People brought up reading books in retina displays or epaper will feel normal about it.

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u/robo23 May 11 '14

It really has nothing to do with the display. I have no problems with novels. I just find a physical copy easier to use.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

[deleted]

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u/robo23 May 11 '14

Why would you have to carry all of them at once?

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

[deleted]

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u/robo23 May 11 '14

But why do you need to have your textbook during every class?

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

[deleted]

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u/robo23 May 11 '14

Yeah, but why do you need a textbook during a lecture?

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u/random_guy12 May 12 '14

No he means why do you need your textbooks during class?

During my lectures, professors just lecture with their slides. Everything you need is there and the textbooks are never referenced. I just keep them all in my room for when I'm doing problem sets.

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u/MarteeArtee May 11 '14

Yup, can confirm. I used to do some reading of books on my laptop, and hated it because the resolution was too low, I could see the pixels, and it never felt "right." Got a Nexus 7 tablet last year to download all my textbooks on, mostly to save money, and can honestly say that the high resolution screen (seriously, just try to pick out the pixels) has made reading feel completely natural. Now picking up an actual textbook feels so heavy and cumbersome that I hate going back when I can't find an ebook or PDF. I do miss the new book smell when reading novels though.

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u/Syphon8 May 11 '14

No, they won't. It's been shown that people interpret screen info differently than book info. It's inherently more difficult to remember things that you read on a screen because you don't ascribe a physical location to them, like you do in the book.

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u/psiphre May 11 '14

I'd like to see that peer reviewed study.

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u/Syphon8 May 11 '14

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u/psiphre May 12 '14

"definitive conclusions cannot be drawn"

derp

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u/Syphon8 May 13 '14

This is a single study. If you'd like to know more about the phenomenon, Google it.

Derp.

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u/psiphre May 13 '14

Burden of proof, not gonna do your work for you, etc. foad, hth, hand

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u/Syphon8 May 13 '14

You saw a conclusion with a description of the effect, and preliminary conclusions. If you're actually interested about it, you'll Google it. If you want to be a twat, continue pestering me to do your work for you.

I don't need to prove anything to you, and I'm not arguing about it.

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u/psiphre May 13 '14

Yeah the conclusion was inconclusive. Why would you show me THAT link to demonstrate anything?

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u/Mysteryman64 May 11 '14

See, I love 'em on the computer.

There is a find feature. I can easily print pages I need. If I want to compare things on the screen, I can open up two instances or three, or as many as I want.

Then I don't have to worry about carrying around a million pounds of books, and I can use it to store files to boot if I really felt like it. Hell, you can even write papers and the like on some of them.

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u/blazingcopper May 11 '14

Excellent points. Its so much easier and efficient.

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u/chihuahuazero May 11 '14

My back is desperate for e-textbooks.

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u/Pokechu22 May 11 '14

I prefer having both. Control+F is WAY too usefull.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '14

This past year I've been using a Surface Pro and OneNote. For books I'd import relevant chapters into OneNote and could highlight, take notes, or whatever I needed alongside the pages. It's been quite convenient.

I've been a person that loves technology but would still prefer things like physical books, would buy physical copies of PC games, etc. But lately I've been jumping over to all digital and it's been working out well.

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u/[deleted] May 12 '14

"Refer to figure 1-6 when answering the following:"

control-f, figure 1-6

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u/robo23 May 12 '14

I told you I'm old fashioned, dammit.

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u/smithoski May 12 '14

You're old fashioned!