Bedtime reading on an iPad. Would you? Should you?

We're trying to grapple with the future at The Good Book Company. Are we heading towards the day when there will be few bookshops and all texts are read on an electronic device? Should we be heading towards that day with enthusiasm?

Many adults I speak to throw up their hands in horror at the thought. They have a love affair with tree books - the feel, the smell, the portability, the comfort all combine to make them staunch defenders of the traditional paperback.

But there are commercial pressures. The expense of printing, storing, transporting and handling all disappear when the "book" becomes information on a computer to be downloaded in a moment. And there are cultural pressures from the younger generation, that do everything on the device they carry round with them - talk, interact, read, write and explore.

Indeed there are signs that the first introduction to reading for children - the bedtime story - are already being transformed by tablet tech. Digital bedtime books have animations, animal noises and will even read the story to your child. Why wouldn't you move from boring book to an exciting interactive e-experience?

One reason is suggested by a recent report that toddlers as young as 4 years old are becoming so addicted to iPads that they require therapy.

Dr Richard Graham, who launched the UK’s first technology addiction programme three years ago, said he believed there is a growing problem with children and technology. He described one four-year old he is currently treating: "She was using it three to four hours every day and showed increased agitation if it was removed." Dr Graham said that young technology addicts experienced the same withdrawal symptoms as alcoholics or heroin addicts, when the devices were taken away and warned that the condition prevented young people from forming normal social relationships, leaving them exhausted by the constant interaction.

This is a big issue for us as publishers and as believers. We are trying to encourage people to interact with God's Word in a way that will draw them into a relationship with God, and with other believers. Is there a sense in which the nature of interactive reading technology works against this aim? Is there a way that we can use the massive benefits of tablet tech, but in the way we design the resource lessen the drawbacks inherent in the device? In a digital world where the whole aim is to keep people connected, we may have to build in screens that say - TURN THIS OFF NOW - AND TALK TO A REAL HUMAN ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE THINKING...

So if you are a parent, Apple-Addict and Android-Junkie or just interested in this area, we'd love to hear your views. Bedtime Bible reading on an ipad ... would you? Should you?