E-books: the new media? No way. Though e-books and other electronic devices such as the Kindle, the nook, and the iPad have growing markets in today’s consumer society, there is no doubt in my mind that newspapers and paper books will remain the prevalent forms of attaining information in the future.
Nothing quite beats the feeling of a crisp newspaper page in your hands on an early weekday morning, reading the daily news, opinion pieces, features, or even just skimming the advertisements. Holding a hardcover book in your hands to read a novel is greatly superior, in my opinion, to holding a boring slab of metal with words on a screen. And what about libraries? Those massive houses of literature, whose hallowed halls contain the words of our past and present. With the takeover of e-books there will be no purpose for libraries. Therefore, I don’t think e-books will succeed in taking over the ancient wonder of printed word, as we humans value our libraries. It’s in our nature. Essentially, the printed word will always be more appealing than the electronic word.
According to the Wall Street Journal, e-book owners still buy a majority of their books in print, according to a survey of more than 6,700 book buyers. In the survey, it was also found that the consumers who buy e-book devices more consistently read books, newspapers, and magazines in traditional text than the average consumer. Therefore, I think it is evident that these e-book devices are not even people’s main form of reading, but rather a way of accessing more books, for book lovers. The average consumer cannot be considered a “book lover,” so I don’t believe e-books will become that much more successful.
Print is a staple of American culture and heritage, and the supposed future elimination of print by e-book devices is ill-conceived, and would be an atrocity to America, if not the whole world.