Should tablets replace textbooks?

Using tablets will reduce the weight of students’ backpacks

Question: Should tablets replace textbooks?
Position1 of 3›: Yes, tablets should replace textbooks.
Argument‹5 of 6›: Using tablets will reduce the weight of students’ backpacks

One tablet can hold all the textbooks for different subjects.

The argument

A single tablet can hold several textbooks, so replacing textbooks with tablets substitutes one light object for a stack of heavy ones. The argument's claim is that this is not a matter of convenience but of injury: by making the substitution, the likelihood of backpack-related injuries among children will decrease. The load children currently carry is the premise the case rests on. On average, the weight of a student's backpack is between 12 and 20 pounds, which is 15% to 30% of a student's body mass — a proportion that would be recognised as unreasonable if an adult were asked to carry it daily. The consequences are documented rather than hypothetical: in 2016 the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) claimed that more than 6,300 children aged 5 to 18 years old were sent to emergency rooms to address backpack-related injuries. Those are only the cases severe enough to reach an emergency room, which sit at the visible end of a wider problem of strain. The accepted remedy points the same way. The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons advises parents to assist their children in preventing neck, back and shoulder pain by limiting the amount of items in their backpacks. Tablets satisfy that advice directly, because the average weight of a tablet is only 1.75 pounds, so adding one to a student's backpack will not increase its weight drastically while removing everything it replaces. The saving also extends beyond textbooks. In addition to books, tablets can store countless files such as tests, quizzes and homework, so students will have fewer physical papers to carry, decreasing the weight of their backpacks even further. Each additional item moved onto the device reduces the load again, which is why the argument treats the change as cumulative rather than one-off.

Premises

[P1]A single tablet can hold many textbooks and course files, while heavy backpacks — often 15–30% of a child's body mass — send thousands of students to emergency rooms each year with back, neck and shoulder injuries. [P2] A tablet weighs only about 1.75 pounds and also stores tests, quizzes and homework, so replacing textbooks and papers with one dramatically reduces the load students carry. [C] Because using tablets would reduce the weight of students' backpacks and the injuries they cause, tablets should replace textbooks.

Counter-arguments

The average tablet might weigh around 1.75 pounds, but this does not factor in the tablet's additional accessories, such as chargers, USB cables, keyboards, and carrying cases. Additionally, there are books that do not offer digital versions/copies for tablets, which makes tablets a less suitable choice for many schools and students.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] The premise conflates two different things: the injury figures cover backpacks generally, whose contents include laptops, sports kit, instruments and lunch as well as books, so removing textbooks reduces a portion of a load the argument has not shown is mostly books. [Rejecting P2] The device weight also excludes the case, charger and often a keyboard, and schools that go digital rarely eliminate paper entirely; more importantly, weight is a narrow ground for a decision about replacing textbooks, which turns on comprehension, cost, access at home and screen time — none of which the argument addresses.