The Use of Books in a Digital Age

When we think back 100 years ago, even 20 years ago, we remember a time when books were a major thing in society. In fact not too long ago schools had book fairs. Personally it was one of my favorite events. We would be given a catalog of what to order, we would check mark what we wanted and in a few weeks they would arrive in a plastic bag with our

name on them. It was like a second and sometimes third Christmas to me. Then it got even better, in between these book fairs there would be one that would take place within the school itself. Dozens of books on display in the library and you purchased them right there. At these particular events I always made an effort to purchase a couple of the old Animorphs series. Those of us old enough to remember that series knew it was one of the coolest things about the 90s. I admit that I never read any of them, it was more of a collection sort of thing. Being in my 30's I've been out of school for sometime so I'm not sure if book fairs are still a thing but I remember them well from my childhood.

Fast forward to today, we now are hearing constant rumors about places like Barnes and Noble going out of business. A few years ago I worked for a book distribution company that was needing to partner with other brands in order to stay afloat. I left fearing that in a few years I would be jobless if I stayed. What happened? How in such a short amount of time did we go from needing more space on our bookshelves to cleaning dust off of them? Recently, a colleague of mine made a remark that she doesn't like to read things. This person was more than a decade older than me, so the problem doesn't apply to a particular generation. Again I ask what happened?

There was a study done back in 2017 that showed the rate of pleasure reading for men dropped from 25% in 2004 to 15% in 2017. For women it declined from 31% to 29%, although not as severe, it was still a drop. Once more I ask, what happened? Is it due to an increase in short attention spans? Is it due to a increase in videos and CGI being more appealing? Is it due to a decrease in the amount of available time to sit down and read? The answer; Yes. Look at social media. Now by all means I am not anti social media since I depend on it myself to promote my writing. However, look at how it is set up. A large emphasis on pictures, videos, and music. A small emphasis on actual reading. We want the point to be emphasized in as little words and time as possible so we can move on to the next topic.

Becoming used to that particular habit can make sitting down and reading seem like a chore. That's not to say a lot of people don't enjoy a good book, but are they actually reading it? Audio books have really taken off, and why shouldn't they? They are extremely convenient, when you jump in your car, just select the book in your phone and push play. You can experience the book without having to flip a page. Does this bring the same experience though? My personal opinion is no. I may be in the minority or I may not be, but opening up the first page and reading it in my voice. Assigning my own voices to the characters, and reading at my pace so I can experience each word, that produces an experience I don't think you can have with an audio book or even a movie.

I believe we do not truly understand just how blessed we are in this current age. Think back to Johann Gutenberg's time. When the printing press was first established it took about six months for a new book to be released. Imagine the generation today being told they had to wait six months for YouTube to publish another video, or the local cinema to get the film to show a new movie. Think about the book side, when a new book is published it's available in days. If it's a best seller from a well known author, there is a mass produced stock waiting to be shipped.

So what is it we do to remedy the trend of books fading out? How do we get them to the mainstream again? I do not think we can in all honesty. As technology progresses, many things will become obsolete, that has been proven time after time since the invention of the telegraph. Do I think physical books will completely die out? Not at all, as long as there is a community of people who demand them, and I believe there always will be. What I do think and fear though, is that this community will shrink over time. I believe as authors and readers it is our duty to keep books alive. How, you might ask? For those of us who write, we have to keep on writing, for those of us who read, we have to keep reading and keep the demand going. For those who have children, encourage them to read something you enjoyed as a kid. Get them into the habit of experiencing what fun books can bring, they may find it's more fun than the Ipad.