Touching is Good

I just read about a study that concluded that what we touch – its feel, texture, weight, etc. – influences how we make decisions.

That seems like a no-brainer of course. But I find it interesting how the columnist related this idea to the progress of technology and e-book readers. Especially since I keep flirting with the idea of buying a Nook.

The tactile experience of reading is also crucial to my reading pleasure. Holding a book compares to nothing short of a baby’s contact with his favorite blankie. Consistent with Ackerman’s findings, a hardback is superior to a paperback precisely because it is more solid, weightier and, therefore, more permanent, more important, better.

But might touching words on a printed page vs. reading them online also be relevant to one’s comprehension and judgment? Are words consigned to tangible and tactually rewarding paper more likely to register in our minds than those that float on hard tablets subject to the blinkering life span of a battery or extinguishable by a bolt of lightning?

This is the very core of the conflict I feel when I consider switching mediums. I love technology. LOVE. IT. I love buttons and gadgets and adore the sensation of playing with “futuristic” toys.

But at the same time, I love books. I love to feel the pages under my fingertips. New car smell has nothing on new book smell. And there’s something almost primal in the idea that the written word has been around throughout the ages. Moving from ink on paper to a purely digital format is a disconnect from our history – and from one another.

Part of the pleasure of a real, snail-mail letter isn’t only the effort involved in putting words to parchment but also the fact of the letter writer having touched the same piece of paper. The exchange isn’t only an act of communication but one of intimacy.

We are all part of this immense digital experiment and we know not where it leads. But the tactile vacuum inherent in the medium can’t be insignificant. Offhand, it seems that our technologically enhanced communications, though miraculous in speed and access, have become harder and rougher with the medium.

Reaching out and touching someone has become easier than ever, but we never really make contact. Hunkered over our keyboards, tapping and clicking messages to the vast Other, we have become a universe of lone rangers keeping the company of our own certitude.

I think perhaps I’ll pass on the Nook – for now.