A Dying Breed?

Ebooks have taken over the traditional form of reading. Where once we needed a nightlight to see, now we have a screen that glows in the dark, bringing to light the once obsured words at 11 P.M. on a Thursday night. The sound of a page shuffling in the middle of a bus ride is now a rare occurrence, instead we see children poking at screens and giggling as the next image pops up on their tablet. Many call this an innovation, progress, a step forward in technology and life as we know it.

But is this all merely the sweet tasting frosting atop a badly made cake?

Reading in depth is losing its value and attention deficit disorder is said to be on the rise. Is this because we were too greedy? Is it because we have latched onto technology to tightly? Predictions have been made that books are eventually going to disappear. That in time people will find no comfort in socializing, unless it's through the cloaked identity provided by the internet. There are rumors going around that language is changing and not for the better.

My belief is that language has changed. Internet talk has spread into the real world, into actual conversations. My sister has a tendency to say 'brb' as she walks away from me. Another good friend of mine blurbs out 'lol' from time to time. Still, I do not think we are deteriorating as a society. Instead readers are growing in number and many aspire to read more after that last series is finished. Yes, the people who desire to string together a sentence enmeshed with complex words and hidden meanings are now part of a dying breed. But progress is progress, change is change. What comes will come and all we can do is ride along.

Our Future, What is to Come?

I must start by explaining why this blog has come about. For my spring semester I signed myself up in a class called The Business of Books. The purpose of this class is to analyze just where the future of reading is going. For centuries the book has been the main form of reading and passing on information. Yet as this new age of technology begins to dawn before a generation of teens and young adults, one has to wonder just where the book is going to go and how it's affecting the ones being raised in this emerging environment.
Right now the ebook is the most popular digital form of reading to date. In class, today, we discussed how the digital and online journals, social networking sites and reading are all coinciding together and affecting a student's skill in analyzing in-depth and complex texts.
What I learned, through my search online and through discussion in class, was that online and our fast paced lives have led to a shortening of our attention span. Many college students on average read for 20 minutes before losing interest in what they're reading. I didn't know that it was a generational problem, I always assumed it was normal for every generation to have a short attention span on reading. I also learned that many students, even today, still like the feel of a book in their hands and are trying to get used to the idea of an ebook.
I'm excited for this class, and hope to learn more as the semester progresses.