When was the last time you opened up a book? No, not a textbook… I’m talking about an actual book that you decided on your own accord that you were going to read in your leisure time. I’m going to go ahead and assume that a majority of the people that read this won’t even be able to think of the last time. I, unfortunately, can join you in that.
I used to read everyday; reading was my hobby. I’d wake up and read, eat lunch and read, go to bed and read. Oh, I have free time in class? Better open that book! Oh, how things have changed. With the growing popularity of the smart phone, all kinds of new, interesting activities are at your fingertips.
With the advent of the Internet, books are a thing of the relative past. Now you can get all of your reading done online, but in a quicker and more convenient way… Sometimes even in 140 characters or less! My generation has become a group of people with some form of ADD that can only focus on one thing for a short amount of time. The idea of reading a book is sometimes painful because we’ve gotten so used to having everything handed to us in a small package.
Will books eventually become a thing of the past? I’m going to go out on a limb and say no. There are still people that enjoy reading, and there is nothing more satisfying than opening a fresh book and cracking the binding. Eventually they will become more and more obscure. We’ve already seen the beginning of the downfall of Books-A-Million, but Barnes and Noble is still going strong. When was the last time you saw a Waldenbooks at the mall? I can’t recall.