My daughter hates digital textbooks. We've tried four different platforms, seven or so formats, and probably a dozen different textbooks in total. All of them are clunky to use relative to a physical textbook, particularly in literature and mathematics, but also in science.

Social studies can be okay in digital format. Like an e-book.

This technology is very definitely not yet ready to replace physical texts, though.

Not even on tablets. The complex/graphics-heavy STEM subjects make them lag-- sometimes badly-- on page-turns and zooms, and lock-ups aren't infrequent with large textbooks in electronic formatting. If you try to click through to citations or definitions, you often discover that navigation is a bit, er-- slippery.

Multimedia embedding is a disaster on every platform we've tried so far, too.

In literature, page-marking and annotations are mostly quite challenging/awkward.



Another note about digital platforms and universal use:

DD and I neither one can use digital media with low-refresh rates or with moving GIF's-- because they promote migraines in both of us. She had one classmate that got them from using digital textbooks, period. So do be wary of that if you have migraineurs in your family.


Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.