Debate: Audiobooks are the way to go

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There is just something powerful about listening to a book that enhances the immersive experience of storytelling compared to opening a novel and reading. 

While I can see the appeal of the traditional way of reading physical or digital books, audiobooks can provide a more pleasant way to experience stories. Hearing the voices of characters speaking in the tones intended, the narrator providing additional help when following along, and the various sound effects help set the scene and paint a picture in your mind. 

Audiobooks are also more convenient to have than physical books as you can do other activities while listening. When reading a book, you have to be focused or else you might accidentally skip some sentences or even pages and miss an important part of the story. With audiobooks, you can multitask when listening to the story like finishing up homework, doing chores, or playing video games.

If you’re like me who reads at a slow pace, it can get tiring over time, especially if it’s a longer story to go through. I have too many memories when I’ve read a book during the day and looked outside to see it’s already dark. Meanwhile, I’m still on the same page, which may be because I ended up falling asleep. 

There’s another reason to prefer having audiobooks over physical copies, but it’s better if I set the scene for this one. 

Imagine you’re travelling somewhere a bit distant for an activity, like going from Scott Road in Surrey to downtown Vancouver for the Canucks hosting a parade after winning the Stanley Cup. However, since it’ll be a while to get there, you want something to occupy your attention while on transit. So, you decide to bring something to read.

But, since you only have physical copies, you’re stuck trying to figure out which book(s) you want to read during the trip. Determining how many books to bring while travelling is something to consider since you can never be too sure how long it will take to get there with how unpredictable public transit can be sometimes. 

This is where having audiobooks is more beneficial. Instead of wasting time figuring out which physical books to bring and how many of them to carry, you can listen to a variety of stories all on one mobile device instead of being inconvenienced about carrying those books, which may also weigh a lot. Now you can comfortably enjoy the commute and see the Canucks, led by Connor Bedard, hoisting the Stanley Cup all around Vancouver.

Audiobooks also have benefits for brain activity. An article on Well and Good by Emily Laurence, an expert in neuroscience, says understanding what you’re listening to activates both left and right sides of the brain. Compared to reading, it only activates the left.

This is due to only needing to process language when reading while listening requires the need to process both speech and sounds. 

The expert also says listening to a story can give listeners greater empathy to the story because they can hear the emotion come from the narrator’s voice as well as possible characters, leading to more attachment to the story. 

After all these reasons, definitely consider picking up a story in audiobook form from now on.