Do you have Kindle ADD?
I fear it’s true. I think I’ve caught it, and I might need counseling.
What is it?
ADD for adults. And I don’t think I ever had it until I bought my Kindle Touch last fall.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my Kindle Touch. Um, but that may be the problem—I fear I love it too much. Just ask my wife.
When my kids are watching family movies I normally watch with them, I prefer to surf around on my Kindle Touch (is surf the right word? Maybe blaze would be better to stick to the motif). And there’s a lot to check out. But here’s what’s scary—I’ve paid like maybe $3 tops, yet I have more than 900 books downloaded.
But how is that possible? It’s no mystery that free Kindle books are available every day. You just need to check the right blogs to find out what they are. And they’re not all junk either. Want a sample?
I just downloaded an interesting story about a woman who left Mormonism. Hey, here’s another one about making money and worrying less about it. Oh, look. A new novel about smuggling the Mona Lisa through France (it’s no longer free, sorry) during World War II—that sounds fascinating. Ooooh. Another Holocaust memoir. I love those, even though they are a little depressing.
Oh, look. Hansel and Gretel for my eight-year-old. Maybe she’ll want to read that. I’ll go ahead and download it just in case.
Oh, hey. More free books today. I can’t possibly read them all right now, but I’ll get them all just in case I might want to read them sometime down the road . . .
The garbage needs to be taken out? OK, thanks, dear. I’ll get to it soon. But first . . .
Look what’s on the Kindle free e-book best-seller list today. Sherlock Holmes and A Tale of Two Cities and Dracula and Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know. I don’t think I’ve read all those. Just in case, I’ll download them. After all, they’re free, and they don’t cost me anything, and . . .
See what I mean? So many books and all on one e-reader. Yes, it’s a great thing, but is it also a curse? As my wife says, it’s like leaving a child in a candy store.
As soon as I start reading one thing, I remember something else I wanted to look at. And since Amazon’s storefront is so easy to access over my wireless connection from the comfort of my family room couch, I can browse all sorts of other books I don’t have and even download samples if I want to see what those books are like.
It’s either a book lovers’ paradise or their worst excuse for indulgence. How does self-control factor into all this?
Before I know it, I’ve spent the whole evening browsing around and reading parts of various books without reading any one book from start to finish. I’ve read only three complete books on my Kindle since last fall. And it’s all because of this weird ADD thing that’s set in. Maybe I just need to turn my Kindle off and talk to my wife and kids for a while.
Naw, I can always do that later. Besides, I might miss something really important. Like another free book.
Note: This is partly satire. I really do love my wife and kids, and I make a point to talk to them at least once a day, even if it’s only “Could you pass the salt?”
8 thoughts on “Do you have Kindle ADD?”
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I sooooooooooooooooo get this! 🙂
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I’m going to show this post to my wife. She thinks I’m terrible — I’ve had my Kindle Touch since last summer and have downloaded a total of 80 books, of which 28 have been read and three are in process for book discussion groups. Most of them were free, as you point out. About 20 of them were received for reviews.
I love my Kindle Touch, and my wife’s first name is, uh, don’t tell me I’ll remember in a minute…
I’m a sucker for free stuff anyhow. Then when those free things are books (probably things I like better than most people, to be frank), then I’m a real weakling. I cave pronto. Then I like to think I’ll read those books someday. Or maybe if I’m doing research, one of those books might come in handy. And it’s FREE. Well, not really, if you think about it. It takes time and attention, etc. I guess the bottom line is that I need to practice more self-control. But wow, I do love my Kindle Touch. Truly do. Even in the morning I can read my devotions while listening to them thanks to Audible via — you guessed it — my Kindle. This gadget has changed my reading life. Now I just need to figure out how to stay in control of it instead of letting it control me. (-; But isn’t that the way it is with most things in life?
Cool. Then I’m not alone. We can do group therapy. (-;
Adam, you didn’t even mention the sample chapter problem. I have about a dozen samples in my iPad’s Kindle app of books that, you know, I’ll buy the whole book someday; I’m just keeping the sample there as a *reminder* to go buy the book *later* … after I download a few more samples.
Oops. I missed that one. Thanks for mentioning it.
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