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Now here's a question that BYU-Idaho students should answer! Should textbooks be replaced by notebook computers? In this post I, Kaleigh Quick, answer that question with my own opinions. The Best Laptop Ninja is an organization that cares about the answer. Do you agree with me? What are your thoughts on textbooks VS notebook computers?

You know when you are working on something important, like chemistry homework, and your brain starts melting? I think even superhuman geniuses know the feeling you get when you’ve been slaving over the same equation for 4 hours, and it’s only been 4 minutes. Your eyes could really use a break from the glare of the computer screen, where you’ve been searching tutorials online about how to make unit conversions. But of course, where do you go for that break? You go right back to the computer.

Computers have everything—important information, as well as mindless applications that can help you take the weight off.

I often find myself on YouTube when I unwind. One time after a grueling homework session, I found myself watching a video with a group of about 10 young high-school aged kids on a stage. In game-show type fashion, an adult host entered and split the kids into 2 teams. Then the teams were then separated by dark curtains, so they couldn’t see each other. They each had a stack of textbooks.

 The host then explained that the groups would be racing against each other to answer different questions, and both groups were allowed to use their stack of textbooks as resources. The kids looked a little intimidated, but eager for the competition.

Then the host shouted something to the effect of:

“Where was President George Washington born?!”

Pages went flying as kids tore through the textbooks looking for answers. After a couple minutes turning pages and opening and shutting books, one group seemed to have the answer:

“452 Cherry Lane, Hertfordshire, Delaware!”

So, the host marked the right team down for one point.

“How much vitamin A is found in the livers of polar bears?!”

Another couple of minutes passed and a group yelled:

“So much that it could kill a man!”

Questions and answers went back and forth with each team randomly getting points. After a couple of rounds, the host slipped behind the curtain and joined the right-sided team. He removed their textbooks and gave them notebook computers to use instead. The left team had no idea what they were up against.

The host resumed his position.

“What is the average heart rate of a hummingbird?!”

In under 10 seconds, the group with computers had the answer. A little deflated, the textbook team still looked ready to keep trying. They tried to answer the next few questions the best they could. However, round after round, the computer team answered too fast for them to have the hope of ever catching up. Sadly, it didn’t take too many failed attempts before the textbook team got overwhelmed and gave up entirely.

In the end, it was obvious that the information available in textbooks just wasn’t as readily accessible as information gathered with a notebook computer.

Like the competing kids, I find computers and internet searching much more convenient. Even when I’ve become tired of doing work on my computer, I am reluctant to turn to textbooks. Computers have it all. I can glean information from internet searches, and also wind down by using my computer to play games or watch YouTube videos. Computers are a terrific asset for getting my schoolwork done and for de-stressing. I can’t think of too many people who turn to textbooks for both of those things.

My appreciation for computers, especially notebook computers, started a few years ago. As a freshman in college, I was eager to start my classes as a food science major. Of course, that meant I had to sign up for Chemistry 1.  I started the class with my old high-school study habit of taking notes with a pencil and paper— and it seemed to work, at first.  I was comfortable in my old-fashioned style of doing things.  I even used a physical, printed textbook to study for the class. However, after a couple of weeks using my paper method, I started to fall behind.

I couldn’t take handwritten notes fast enough, and the daily lecture material seemed to pile up. My old high school method wasn’t working.

On top of suffering in class, my homework assignments started to go from complete, to not so complete. Finding resources in my textbook to help with homework was becoming so arduous, the search for information was taking longer than the homework itself. Like the YouTube kids, it didn’t take long before I gave up, stopped taking notes and stopped using my textbook altogether. It was obvious that paper, pencil, and textbook were not keeping up.

Flash forward to 2018. I happily put my miserable Chemistry 1 experiences behind me and I signed up for Chemistry 2. Within the first 5 minutes of class though, I could tell my Chemistry 1 background was simply not going to cut it. Even though I technically (barely) passed Chemistry 1 with a C-, my paper and pencil method had truly failed me. The material in Chemistry 2 seemed like a foreign language. I decided it was the best for me to drop Chemistry 2 and retake Chemistry 1 instead.  I needed to more fully comprehend the basics before I could ever hope to master more advanced material.

Starting Chemistry 1 this time, I had small notebook computer with me, and I discovered that I was unstoppable. Instead of falling behind on notes, I easily downloaded all of the lecture PowerPoint slides. I looked up chemistry tutorials online instead of in my 6-inch thick textbook. I took notes on my notebook computer and quizzed myself before tests. Not only was my chemistry grade much better this time around, but my understanding and confidence in the material was dramatically improved. In the end, I passed the class with a B+. If you’ve taken chemistry before, you probably know how awesome that is.

Not only did having a notebook computer improve my grades, but it also improved my confidence in the subject. Additionally, I spent less time doing homework and more time doing what I wanted to do—even if that was just taking a quick brain-break perusing YouTube.

Computers saved my relationship with chemistry. They absolutely are better tools for successful study than textbooks are. While textbooks can come in handy when you’re your notebook computer isn’t working, they simply don’t make the cut in a normal college setting. After my amazing grade transformation in Chemistry 1, I could clearly see that textbooks in the classroom should be replaced by notebook computer computers, whenever possible.

Some may say that computers have their inconveniences too—like the high prices of some notebook computers, or having to have their battery charged. But that is about where the list of valid disadvantages ends.  

Of course, some notebook computers may cost upwards of $600, but textbook costs are pricy too.  For me they have cost at least $600 every single semester, and their information has been limited. A plethora of textbooks and information can fit onto one tiny notebook computer. One $600 notebook computer can hold the information of a thousand textbooks, and all you have to do to access it is charge the battery.

Computers beat textbooks hands-down. Not only for enhancing the speed of research, but also for their ease of organizing information. When you use a textbook to gather information, familiarity with using an index and table of contents is essential.  You have to have a deep understanding of textbook organization. It’s taken me years of practice to feel even remotely comfortable using a table of contents as well as indexes, footnotes, cross notes, and other complicated textbook organization methods. When using a computer, you can truly know if eating polar bear liver would kill you in a matter of seconds. You wouldn’t need to search through a library of complicated, indexed textbooks. A simple internet search can give you thousands and thousands of organized instant results—and you wouldn’t even have to know how to spell “vitamin” correctly.

Textbook research is painstaking. It takes me at least twice as long to find appropriate information in a textbook than it does for me to do an internet search. Not only do textbooks slow you down educationally, it also slows you down physically. College campuses are usually quite large, and lugging multiple textbooks to your classes can really grind on you. I’m sure it’s safe to say that a single notebook computer would be easier on your back, on your health, and on your speed as you run from class to class. Textbooks simply weigh you down.

At the very most, textbooks could outdo computers as a blunt self-defense weapon. The swing of a heavy book could knock someone out. But again, a quick computer search could quickly point you in the direction of the police, a fierce lawyer, and where to buy pepper spray.

All in all, textbooks have basically become obsolete. In the world of the modern college student, computers are the only things that can keep up. Just like the competing high school students on YouTube demonstrated, when it comes to accessing information, textbooks just slow us down. Convenient notebook computers are essential for keeping up as a college student. For studying hard, taking the weight off your shoulders, or suing a bad guy, notebook computers win hands down. Textbooks must be replaced by notebook computers!

Essay by Kaleigh Quick September 2018.