I’m not a technophobe; I just don’t want to cuddle up with my phone, okay

This article in the SMH got me a little concerned. I suppose I should be excited, but I’m not. I’m not even torn.

You see, loads of people, in Japan at least, are now downloading e-books and reading them on their mobile phones. It seems that tons of Japanese youth who just weren’t into reading the classics have started doing so now that they are available in digital format.

"We find that e-books complement the printed publications," said a spokeswoman for the Shinchosha publishing house, Sonoko Fukaya. "As a publisher we of course would like to see our printed publications sell well, but at the same time we find that digital contents are cultivating a new generation of readers who would not have read the contents otherwise."

Maybe I am a luddite after all. I just can’t imagine enjoying a book on my phone. There’s just something so comforting about curling up with a real book, feeling the cover and smelling the pages. And what about browsing in bookshops? I would be one sad little puppy if there were no bookshops to spend hours just wandering in.

Though the environmentalist in me says I should be applauding the fact that people are moving away from paper-based reading as the technology evolves, I just can’t – not on a phone. I’m all for the development of digital newspaper and e-book readers. The ones that are designed specifically for the purpose and are still some ways away from being perfected (though see the effort from Jinkie, above). Bring them on. I’ll happily sacrifice the paper feel and scent for one of those (just so long as I don’t feel like I’m staring at a squidgy computer screen (I get enough of that already – not so much the squidgy though).

And just in case you thought that Japanese youths were the only ones nutty enough to want to read books on their tiny little mobile phone screens, Harper Collins wants you to believe otherwise. They have launched a mobile reader club and I’m not giving you the link. If you’re odd enough to want to read books on your mobile you can find it on your own.