Star Trek said no e-readers in bed long before Harvard!

In the interest of not having to worry about picking a new series to watch for a few weeks in my house, we've decided to re-watch the Star Trek Cannon. I've been a fan since I was a wee little one, however, my fiance was only really introduced to the series franchises and movies during our last undertaking of watching the entire cannon. 

Something I've noticed however is a lack of tech in a specific arena that I've never really paid attention to before..... When the characters on the various shows read books, they're actually reading books. 

Now, I know some of you out there will be quick to point out that e-readers didn't really exist during the writing, production and shooting of any of the Star Trek shows or movies, and while, yes, you are correct in that.... By the time of development for The Next Generation, "Padds" were a quite often used device to transmit texts and make them mobile.... And some would say, quite correctly, that these "Padds" were the origins of our most beloved and adored iPads and Tablets and e-readers of today. 

These devices were seemingly capable of communicating between one another, as well as the computers on whatever ship or station they existed on, they could carry seemingly massive amounts of texts, (like... say.... a book worth....), and could be used for a variety of day to day functions... Yet, when it comes time for relaxation, all our favorite characters can usually be seen picking up an actual book, printed on actual paper, and reading until their preferred bedtime.

Was it that they couldn't read a book or large text on a padd? Clearly the padds were capable, so methinks not.

Were they merely fans of holding a large, cumbersome object that if you choose to read whilst laying down it sometimes falls directly on your head, (or glasses, it's the worst when a War and Peace length tome falls directly on your cheap, plastic frame glasses)? Doubtful. I mean, seriously, who wants that...?!?

Or was it that Star Trek was once again amazingly ahead of it's time in figuring that a pad/electronic device would maybe not be the best thing to keep a human's circadian rhythms in check, long before Oxford or Harvard even contemplated such thoughts?  

Maybe I'm being overly assumptive here, but, I'm going to have to say it was the latter option. Back in the day, before Apple had ever thought up the iPad, before Amazon existed itself, much less their now popular Kindle, the Star Trek writers, producers and propmasters figured out that maybe, just maybe, falling asleep shortly after reading on an electronic and "blue-light" emitting device might just not be all that healthy. 

Shocking, righ....?

Put down the e-readers. Let the iPads charge at night so they'll be ready for you in the morning. Give the tablets a break, folks. 

Image: Memory Alpha

Pick up an actual book and allow it to lull you into a restful sleep. Like they do in the future. Just because you can have a "padd" in bed with you doesn't mean you should!