As technology like the iPad 2, iPad Mini and various tablets that can hold hundreds of books in a single device become more and more accessible, some may wonder if the age of physical books and newspapers is coming to an end.
I doubt it.
Although the organization and compactness a tablet can offer is intriguing, I, for one, will never lose the love of flipping each page of a book or being engulfed by a newspaper twice my size.
Yes, it is nice to have all your favorite novels and poems on one device, but who can even read 43 books in one plane ride anyway?
Some may argue newspaper publications are losing lots of customers to online editions, but I know there are a great number of people still out there who cannot substitute that Sunday morning coffee and newspaper read with scrolling through a website.
Reading the funnies online is just not the same.
Books will also never go out of style for more of a superficial reason.
When walking into someone's home, it is human nature to judge the homeowner a little by what his or her house contains.
If you see the house cluttered with books and newspapers, you can be fair to assume they are caught up on what is going on in the world and are cultured by the amount of books on their shelf.
Replacing all of those books and articles for a single tablet may leave you more space, but it could also leave a house looking empty.
If everyone substitutes physical reading material for a slim piece of plastic, then what are they to do with all of the books that are already in their possession?
Throw them away just like we did with our old VHS tapes?
The world is becoming more technology-friendly, but I believe we will never have to assume that books and newspapers will share the same fate as audio cassettes and VHS tapes.
Books, newspapers and magazines will forever hold information that is not already in an online form. It would take too much time and effort to transfer everything that has ever been printed to an online source.
Libraries can offer free time with the characters you love or can teach you the next best pumpkin pie recipe. Transcribing all of those books and articles into a computer system would cost more than it would be worth.
If libraries were to become online-based, they would have to spend money on more computers to offer people the same chance to read their favorite novels as they do now.
Although the allure of NOOKs and tablets is increasing, have no fear - books will never disappear.
Plus, no one ever said you could get cancer from a book.
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