STEPHANIE TANIZAR
Assistant Perspectives Editor
Books have held the monopoly on information for centuries. From scholarly works to one-liner gags, every facet of human history and culture has been consigned to the written page.
That is, until the rise of the Internet and its information highway. Faster and more adept at recording information, the Internet — like books — is not just a tool for study. Popular television show episodes are put up for free online streaming almost immediately after airing on television. Music is legally obtainable over the Internet at the iTunes music store. These are just two of the many ways the entertainment industry has profited from the Internet, and two of the many diversions the Internet offers.
Critics argue that the distractions of the Internet have shortened the average user’s attention span. An InfoWorld article relates how “natives of the digital age” — meaning kids who have grown up with the Internet – have come to favor visuals and sometimes will not even read text.
This obviously does not bode well for the future of books.
According to statistics collected by ParaPublishing.com, only 38 percent of adults read for pleasure. Only 32 percent of the U.S. population has ever been in a bookstore. In addition, 65 percent of college students read little or nothing beyond school-related material.
It is not just the Internet that has distracted the modern reader away from books. Video games, movies, even the pressures of real life conspire to leave little time for reading.
The modern conveniences of the digital age are not the sole reason for shortening attention spans, despite the affectionate nickname “idiot box” for the television. They may, in fact, be symptoms of the malady. The problem with reading is the problem of time.
In a world where everything has to be quicker and faster to be better, there is simply no time to spare for reading. The entertainments of the Internet, of the television, of the movie and of the iPod have small or set time limits, all the better to schedule around for greater efficiency.
Books require time to read and to digest. That we cannot make the time to do so, as the polls say, is a worrying indicator of how our concept of efficiency corrupted our understanding of how to relax.
Of course, books have not been relegated to the role of the dinosaur just yet. The entertainment industry as a whole has benefited from the Internet, and the publishing industry is not an exception.
Electronic books (ebooks) have been a staple of the Internet for some time. Portable electronic readers (e-readers) in the vein of the iPod as a portable music library have been toyed with, though critical reviews have been largely unsatisfied with early e-readers.
Late last year, however, online shopping giant Amazon.com has released its own ebook reader: the Kindle.
The Kindle features a revolutionary display that looks and reads like real paper rather than a computer screen, among other extremely user friendly features. The paper-like quality of the screen was an instant hit with the Kindle’s reviewers. “It’s like paper and it’s very interesting. […] Very readable,” said bestselling author Neil Gaiman. Quotes from others in the industry bear the same view.
Currently, the Kindle is sold out, though Amazon is working on manufacturing more. The book industry seems to be holding its own against the rest of the world.
However, this only proves that the digital age has truly begun to encroach on ink and paper books in the search for efficiency. The Kindle does not induce customers to take time out of their day to read a book and fully understand it. Instead, it lets customers take the book into their hacked up time to digest it in unappetizing dribs and drabs. The tradition of putting time aside in order to read is dying out.
Though books have not become extinct yet, the glory of their heyday is over. As technology moves on, books and the pleasures in taking time out of life to relax will become less important.
With the lightning speed of the Internet taking over life as we know it, an idea worth thinking about might be to take some time away from it. Talk to a friend without having to keep an eye on the clock. Paint a picture. Maybe even think about reading a good book.
02-07-2008
