Amitej B.

Language Arts
Core 2

Tablets Must Replace all Books

Imagine if one day if all the trees in the world were gone. Thousands of habitats

would be would be destroyed. Millions of animals would be would be extinct. No

beautiful wilderness would exist. Nothing would be left. Then what? Humans would live

in a disastrous and polluted world. Very less fresh air to breath. Just polluted, disgusting

air. doubt anyone would enjoy I doubt people would enjoy having to live in such a

claustrophobic, hard to breath area. That’s why we should keep the trees safe and not

have to face a dilemma. Keep the world nice and green. We should replace textbooks

with tablets. Not only is that the reason why tablets are beneficial, but I believe benefit

our society not only because they save trees, but they’re also beneficial to people

because tablets are also more convenient, and they help kids with their studies.

Although some people may argue that tablets are inconvenient because one

must focus on a screen, I feel that iPads are still more handy because the vision issues

can be preventable and not at all bad. Digitaltrends.com indirectly says that the vision

issues are preventable because “long-term vision problems only come from prolonged

use of digital devices (Hill 2015). Even though there may be some health drawbacks,

the inconvenience of textbooks can lead to more damage to health due to carrying

weight. The vision problems can always be prevented as you won’t be glued to your

iPad that much after homework and I argue that tablets aren’t inconvenient as nobody

stares at HEV light for hours in a row and there are ways and means to adjust to
prevent eye issues. Such as screen brightness, and duration of use, by taking breaks

when needed. Not only that, but there are many more examples of how tablets are

convenient for which tablets should replace paper bound books. The average 7th grade

textbook weighs about 4 lbs (cde.ca.edu 2002) where as iPads weigh only 1-2 lbs.

Although this article is very old, it is reliable as it is from the California Department of

Education. Also, the weight of textbooks doesn’t change as the information in the

syllabus doesn’t change a whole lot. This shows that tablets are much more convenient

because one lightweight tablet can hold just about anything. This makes it definitely

lighter than textbooks, notebooks, and documents. Another piece of evidence is that

from an owners point of view. Eve B says that “An iBook book takes up about 11-20

MB. A 16g device has a usable capacity of about 12G minimum. So if you ONLY have

books on the device, you could probably hold around 600-1,000 books, depending on

their size” (Eve B 2013). This shows that our iPads can hold at least 600 books. This is

also convenient because they can hold everything in your schooling career and there is

no need to carry bulk. This makes everything generally organized. My final evidence

why tablets are more convenient is that an iPad is very durable and it is easy to repair

even if an accident occurs. According to Apple, an iPad owner can extend insurance for

2 years for only $49 (AppleCare+ for iPad). This is convenient because it can be under

insurance if the iPad breaks. Even otherwise, the reparation isn’t that bad compared to

how much it must cost for so many damaged books that don’t last from all the liquid

spills and rips in the paper. All in all, the chances of it breaking in the first place are low

which is more convenient because that is less expenditure and nothing is getting

wrecked, and that's why tablets should replace the remaining paper bound books
because they are less bulky, have more capacity in less space, and they are much

more durable.

Another reason tablets must replace all books is because they are more

environmental friendly than books. One example is from triplepundit.com. They say that

the iPad is environmental friendly because of the eBook feature in the first place which

makes there no need for any paper because the books are available on iBooks

(Galloway 2010). This shows that tablets are more environmentally friendly because

you can get any book, and there is enough space, and, they save tons of paper.

Another piece of evidence that ties into the last example is a stat from

greenreprisentative.org. This is that approximately thirty million trees get cut down every

year for books. That too only in the U.S. This proves that tablets save paper because

books use thirty million trees whereas tablets use zero (Book Sector 2007). Not only

that, but tablets are more environment friendly as saving those trees also comes with

other pros. The trees are needed as they are the main things that keep our world clean.

They provide us the most oxygen and absorb the worst pollutant gases (Downing 2011).

Some People may disagree and believe that there are worse cons to tablets, but as I

mentioned earlier, vision problems can be prevented with limitations, and they are one

of the only health issues caused from tablets, so tablets pose no threats. Finally, iPads

are environmental friendly because they save tons of paper. This is proven in not one

but two ways

My final reason why I believe in replacing paper with the tablets is because it

actually helps when it comes to studies. One example is from Courtney Subramanian.

She says that “educators in Auburn, Maine began instructing 266 kindergarteners using
the iPad 2 this fall, and those who used the tablet scored higher on literacy tests”

(Subramanian 2012). Another example of how tablets help with studies is that the

University of California Irvine medical school reported iPad equipped medical students

scored 23% higher on national exams than in previously unequipped classes (Comstock

2013). This really shows how much they help because 23% makes a great difference.

Besides, it’s even better to get a good score starting from kindergarten and do good

through college and that can happen only if we replace textbooks with tablets. Plus,

tablets are better because they are much more fun than textbooks and they have a

better way of teaching the same concept. A study at Oklahoma State university says

that 75% of students agreed that the iPad helped learning. This shows that not only is

there proof, students themselves believe iPads help. My final piece of evidence is from

CNN that says that a study from California proves that tablets help studies because it

says that 20 percent more of the students (from 59% to 78% of students) taking the

Algebra 1 course scored as proficient or advanced (Bonnington 2012). This shows that

the iPad helps in studies, because there is proof, and the students themselves think so.

So if they feel so, it probably is true and does help them because they know best about

themselves.

In conclusion, tablets are better than textbooks in not one but several significant

ways. Even though some people think tablets spoil the kids in ways of vision and

distractions, I think they are more beneficial because they prevent inconvenience,

they’re friendly to the environment, and they’re good for the education of students. This

is why the future should filled with tablets and books should stop being manufactured.
This way the trees are protected and the world can transform from a dirty polluted world

to a clean, electronic world. I’m sure people would enjoy that kind of world.

Sources

Sennebogen, Emilie. “How Are Kids Using IPads at School?” HowStuffWorks,

Ap. “Schools Shift from Textbooks to Tablets.” CBS News, CBS Interactive, 6
Mar. 2013, www.cbsnews.com/news/schools-shift-from-textbooks-to-tablets/.

Hill, Simon. “Does Staring at Screens All Day Really Damage Your Eyes? We
Asked an Expert.” Digital Trends, Digital Trends, 3 Mar. 2015,
www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/does-your-phone-damage-your-eyes-an-experts-advice/.

https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/pn/im/documents/infocibcfirapr04item01.pdf

W, Natalie. “IPod: How Many Books Does 16gb Hold?” Apple, 13 Dec. 2013,
www.apple.com/shop/question/answers/readonly/tag/ipod/how-many-books-does-16gb-
hold/QTT77UAAKX7F2PDAJ.

“AppleCare+ - IPad.” Apple, www.apple.com/support/products/ipad.html.

“Air: What's a Tree Got to Do with It?” Ecology Global Network, 20 Mar. 2015,
www.ecology.com/2011/09/02/air-and-trees/.

Wainwright, Ashley. “8 Studies Show IPads in the Classroom Improve