Life Snapshot: When Books Became Too Unruly

I used to be a physical book person. Spent my childhood reading... the smell of a book, its weight in your hands, and the feeling of turning a page. I'd attempted ebooks and even owned a pretty purple Kobo later on, but I barely touched it and didn't understand why people would want to read them that way.

Then I had my first kid.

Back then I owned a Windows Phone and downloaded an app, I can't remember its name, that I used to track everything. This meant between tracking and the absolute need to take photos of my baby I was constantly holding my phone all day. I missed reading and quickly realized, when nursing, a physical book is extremely unruly. Though I may have attempted it a couple times. Sorry.

Then my phone broke, I couldn't stay Windows, switched to Apple, and realized although I kept my photos (thankfully) I lost all of my apps' data including the year of tracked data... and then learned I didn't need it so barely logged anything for my second kid. Over that time, and beyond with life on the go, with both a baby and toddler, the ebooks kept getting used more and more. First I had my phone with me whether I was at home or at a playground and could easily read on the go. Plus there was no obvious questionable covers or images easily seen. And I could read and flip pages with a single hand making it easier to find a moment or two amidst a busy day... I ended up completely switching over to ebooks.

Here's the part I didn't notice until much later:

Reading ebooks wasn't a preference I picked.
They were how reading survived that season.

The physical books didn't fit my life anymore and instead of stopping it morphed to fit the shape that did. With it I was able to take advantages of the couple of minutes here or there. And as they got older and more independent I spent hours at playgrounds reading if we weren't hanging with friends. Once we went home when my phone hit 10% battery.

Now they're older, the youngest just hit double digits, and I'm still reading ebooks. Somehow I feel I have less time and my own apps have taken over. I still turn to ebooks. Back in California I loved that I could read them in the dark with a tea outside. Now I appreciate that despite the kids reading over my shoulder it's more mine on my phone... and still darker rooms are fine. I do buy a physical book sometimes... but I find them harder to read as they're never where they need to be when I want them. I know this stage may change... but for now it works.

Here's the funny part though... I realized despite reading being simpler on my phone somehow it became cumbersome when I realized I had books across many different apps: Kindle, NetGalley, Libby, Audible, and Apple Books. I have no physical stack to trip over (wait... I do have some of those too)... and yet the pile's still somehow hard to see. Just scattered across screens instead of stacked on the floor.

But that's a story for another post.

— Kyra 💕