More than a million people die every day, but today’s obituary is a little different; it is not about a person; it is an obituary for the written word books in this age of rapidly growing technology, in this digital world, the big question that arises is: is this era end of the book?
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Will every book be digital content in the next 2 to 3 decades? Will physical reading books disappear with the rapid growth of smart phones, YouTube, and various types of digital products and platforms?
People all over the world turn to their screens to learn, entertain, and even read. Are we changing ourselves in this way?
Is this era really the end of the book?
This may sound absurd to you, but it will make sense. When was the last time you picked up a book, and when was the last time you spent hours just reading? That is, why is this the end of the book.
Shifting from books to screens
Books have been the cornerstone for every human being for centuries. It starts from your nursery and provides in-depth knowledge of every subject we want to study.
However in this age the reading habit has changed a lot because of this digital age. Instead of reading a 200 pages book people prefer scrolling their phones and watching videos on Youtube or reading content on the phone.
Digital Devices Replace Book?
Reading content in smart phone and watching videos on Youtube really replace books?
It seems that the long-running education has come to an untimely end, books are gathering dust, book shops are closing, libraries are being replaced by the Internet. These are the reasons why is this era end of the book?
No phones, no TV, no distractions. Purely pleasurable reading for some of us, the answer may be tomorrow or in fact even today? But for most people the answer is days, months or years. That is why I am saying is this the era of the book?
Do you remember your first book?
It would be a book of nursery rhymes or mathematics, or alphabet. Do you know what the first printed book was? It is the Diamond Sutra. no one is sure why it was printed, but we do know that it was printed on May 11, 868 A.D. by a man named Wong Ji.
He asked to make a 17 and a half-foot-long sacred Buddhist text; this is the earliest printed book we know. Then came the printing press; this invention changed the game; it gave us the first mass-produced book, the Gutenberg Bible.
Best selling book!
Do you know what is the best selling book of all time, the Bible, over seven billion copies of the Bible have been sold so far, the most expensive book is Codex Leicester, it is basically Leonardo da Vinci’s science diary, Bill Gates bought it in 1994 for 30.8 million dollars.
Millions of Harry Potter books were sold in the early 2000s, if all the Harry Potter books sold were put back to back, they would go around the equator 16 times. So why is that time disappearing now, that’s why I am saying, is this era , end of the book?
Why are people stop reading books?
There are many reasons for this but the most notable reason is our digital addiction, most of us now live on our phones. Children are now reading less than before.
A survey in 2019 proved this. Young people are not reading enough, many of them said they did not enjoy it, they find reading a futile task and this is a global survey.
The reasons are different in India, teens are not reading because they don’t want to read but in many cases they are burdened with studies, the funny fact is that this trend saw a change due to the pandemic (covid), people were at home and many of them started reading books.
Indian youth are reading more self-help books and books on personal development, the numbers are more than ever and it is a good thing to read any kind of books.
It is said that books are your best friend and social media is undoubtedly creating a hindrance, it is destroying our attention span (emojis and GIFs) and leaving very little space for peace.
Maximum people are not reading books and those who are reading are buying online or reading e-books or listening to audio books. These are all the reasons, why this era end of the books?
On the other hand, if we look at it, smartphones are making information from all over the world available at your fingertips. E-books have become accessible and you will find more apps that allow us to read books digitally on our phones, tablets and computers.
Although there has been a new beginning in this field, and books may not remain the primary source of study in the near future, the availability of good books will always remain,as in-depth. Study on any subject cannot be available on digital platforms.
The best stories cannot be told in 280 characters or captured in a fleeting clip or reel, they need a good old book.
So try to stay away from social media for a bit and get into the habit of reading books.
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