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.