Are Books In Hard Copy On The Path To Extinction?
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“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, …….it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,………”
— — Opening lines from A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Dear readers, though the above lines are in a completely different context in the book, I feel they aptly resonate with the current situation which I am about to share with you here.
Do the parents like me find a similar trend in their kids too?
The other day, my daughter picked a book from my shelf to read. I was delighted to see the very scene nowadays because the last I had seen my kids reading a bound paper book was during their pre-university exams.
Well, unfortunately, the span of her interest to read the book lasted hardly for half an hour. I could only hope that the next she picked it up would be in a few days rather than months. I obviously can only lament their disinterest in the hard copy books.
Me and My Books
I still remember the days when my mother used to have a hard time during every shift from one place to another. My adamant refusal to leave behind or discard even the oldest and tattered books would end up with her arguments and my attempts to convince about the importance of even the comics. Every time at least 4 to 5 cartons would contain only my books.
Nothing to Worry About
It’s not that the teens and youth of today are not readers. They definitely read a lot, but the medium or format of reading has changed completely. So, while a Paperback book may not instill a longer span of reading in my daughter, she can sit for hours to read a kindle edition or anything on social media.
The Fragrance of Pages
We parents and our peers still prefer the bliss of holding the Paperback or Hardbound books in our hands. Also, enjoy the blissful fragrance of the dusty, old faded pages or the just-opened fresh ones.
But, I have observed that the younger ones of the current generation prefer the feel of digital gadgets in their hands. Unfortunately, for most in our society (may it be any generation), it has become a sort of status symbol to own these gadgets. Not only for required activities of communicating or working on a project or researching any information but also for pleasure reading.
Digital Lifestyle
Mobile, Laptop, PC, Tablet, Kindle Reader are the devices around which most of the activities of today’s youth revolve. Moreover, the current COVID 19 situation across the world has forced these kids to adopt these devices even for their normal education.
The online classes, I feel, have pushed back the hard-copy format books of paper to a deeper background.
Observations
If the current trend proceed at the same pace
Do you think Paperback books will no more be necessities for education and entertainment for readers?
Do you think books of paper will become artifacts to be kept in museums?
Reading is Instinctive
I can feel assured that readers will always exist, as reading is an instinctive human nature.
But, whether the books printed in a printed press, made of paper will gradually become history?
Epochs in the history of books
The printing press at Guttenberg fueled the Renaissance in Europe. I believe that books are atoms and molecules that form the whole body of different studies that have existed on his earth. From Hieroglyphics to handwritten to printed forms, books have come a long way.
Do you think their Heydays are fading?
Indeed, the above question, just as doomsday, is a topic of great discussion or strong arguments.
But again, just like the end of times is predicted to be a sure thing in some unknown future, books in paper format also seem to anticipate its extinction.
It can become a possibility in a future where we may be already dust in our graves.
Yet, I hope, like our skeletons and hair, they too will remain or survive in the vaults or treasure chests of some die-hard reader’s nest.
