Books and reading have changed surprisingly little for me since I was young. I read avidly as soon as I was able to, and have continued doing so. My reading habits have gone through phases, of course, as I assume most people's have. I had a literary classics kick and a period of time where I desperately tried to enjoy reading Thomas Pynchon, but now I tend toward reading science fiction and poetry. College helped open my eyes to the literary forms of poetry and graphic novels, and my interest in both of those has continued since college. In terms of format, however, the biggest change from my younger self's reading habits to my own is how I access reading materials. My local public library offers Hoopla and Overdrive access to library card holders, and I have used these quite a lot to access audiobooks. When I was younger, I listened to audiobooks occasionally, but I only ever reread books as audiobooks (and mostly just the Harry Potter series, which came in doorstopper sized cassette tape collections); now I enjoy experiencing books for the first time in their audio format. I haven't found myself embracing the ebook format, and doubt I ever will, but I have nothing against it and think it's a valuable alternative to printed book format.
As for the future of books, reading, and publishing, I don't anticipate any seismic shifts in the way we read and consume printed media. The internet and ebooks have been around for long enough now that they have become just another part of the reading landscape, and I think if the majority of the public was going to stop reading physical books altogether because of the allure of more attention-grabbing, passive material it would have done so already. I'm sure that reading is generally less popular than it was 30 years ago, but physical book publishing is still going strong, and I don't anticipate it going anywhere soon. The main concern I have about the future of the publishing industry is its environmental impact. As we face increasingly devastating human-made climate change, I think it is important that we reexamine all of our consumption habits, and that includes how we produce and purchase reading material. I think e-reader technology will advance greatly in the next 20 years and hopefully more people (including myself) will learn to love it and recognize that embracing it is a good step toward being an ecologically responsible consumer. My biggest concern about the state of reading 20 years in the future is that our increasing reliance on screens will continue to lower our collective attention spans to the point where reading books will be increasingly difficult in a world where most of our media is passive entertainment. However, I think there will always be a place in our culture for people who enjoy the challenge of reading and the satisfaction of delving deeply into the written words of others.
I like your point about how if there was going to be a major change in reading physical books it would have happened already. Ebooks have been around long enough now that I think we would have seen a much bigger impact by now. Although, I will say that it will be interesting to see how this next generation will affect this area: I am part of the last generation to remember a time before the internet, so people who have only known the world with its current digital footprint may make one last significant shift in the coming decade.
ReplyDeleteI've never really considered the environmental aspect of book publishing, probably because I've just assumed it was recyclable (which now that I think about it, is probably not entirely true). At least libraries can help in that regard, three people can read the same one library book as opposed to all three buying their own copy.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up a ton of great points in this response - I love that you bring up the environmental factor! Reading may never go away - but the formats will certainly keep changing and evolving. Full points and great job!
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