Danaysia G. Brown

How is print media losing ground to electronic media in both content and delivery systems? Robert Coover creates a melodramatic comparison between traditionally written literature and computers. He incorporates the purpose and theme of his article with in the title “The end of books”, leading to an enticing intro, “in the real world nowadays, that is to say, in the world of video transmissions, cellular phones, fax machines, computer networks, and in particular out in the humming digital present of avant-garde computer hackers, cyberpunks and hyperspace freaks, you will often hear it said that the print medium is a doomed and outdated technology, a mere curiosity of bygone days destined soon to be consigned forever to those dusty unattended museums we now call libraries”. This description of modern day reading versus traditional reading from a text is a bit over-the-top, while still factual. Through the transition from conventional text to digital text, here is where the question in issue of finding reliable digital text rises, because now we have the option of “hypertexting” which is a method of storing data through a computer program that allows a user to create and link fields of information at will and to retrieve the data non sequentially. Hyper-texting reminds me of research engines such as Wikipedia, Google, and/or Yahoo. Terry Deary, stressed the recognizable decrease of societies demand and interest in the literature provided to the public of free use. Libraries receives funding from the state to produce the services, Computers, books, and more. With the decline of its use the money provided through tax payers, goes to waste leading to valuable money and teaching tools lost in the system lost in the system. Deary approach to the issue of the low library usage from the public usage, is more so trying to convince the reader that some many programs and opportunities are available at local library and the public should take advantage of them.

I agree, due to technology and digital media that the demand for  hard copy books, newspapers and magazines has dropped tremendously, but I do not believe they would be fully discontinued any time soon. Personally, am not the type to go out and buy a book and read it for pleasure, instead I only purchase books for educational reasons; such as a class requirement or on the job research. With technology, all the information available is at the tip of our fingers, News reports come to us through social media and the average person uses google search about 25 times a day. Books in particular thought us how to express ourselves, gave us an imagination and more, although my generation aren’t fully in touch with print media, I feel that the older generation will extend the life of books. They’re the ones still visiting the libraries and purchasing hard copy books. The older folks enjoy and get pleasure from the smell of the pages to having to turn a page; its what they grew up on, that’s why it is more-likely for them to buy a hard copy book instead of purchasing a digital copy. Based on the article Tweens and teens currently are more interested in going  to see a movie than goin out to buy the book, which is true; I personally have watched all the Harry Potter movies but has never bought a Harry Potter book. Although some are not embracing digital media, I feel that it brings efficiency, unlimited access to information and bring many stories to life.

When we think of electronic media or electronics devices, generally we also think about what jobs are actually at risk being that both electronic media and devices are growing rapidly. For example, when we’re taking a stroll down the New York streets in 2016 how many newspaper stands do you see today? And I’m not talking about the ones that also sell snacks, just strictly newspapers now compare that to the amount we used to see when we were in elementary and middle school. Insane right? Exactly, because all we have to do is put in whatever news website we’d like to visit in the search engine and there we have options on whatever stories we want to read up on for that day or even the week. Incredible right? But what about the news stand guys? There go their jobs, and what about the people who work in the printing factories? There go their jobs as well. According to The End of the Books article, the print medium is doomed and outdated. Which I personally believe is a true claim, lets also take a look at simple things like going into a fast food place such as Mc D’s and realizing how long it’s been since we’ve seen a printed menu. As for Horrible Histories author Terry Deary, he stated libraries have been around too long and are no longer relevant. Once again, I completely agree unless youre a college student of course and we’re looking for a book for a particular class to go through. Point is, everything balls down to we don’t think about printed media unless we really have to. If not, we’re either on out smartphones in our search engines or on our laptop searching whatever it is that is relevant to us in that moment.

I will be the first to admit I do not read enough books. I can name dozens of shows, movies, albums, even paintings I’m obsessed with. But I do not read books like I did when I was younger. Honestly, I don’t read books because I don’t see the need to most of the time. For school, sure I’ll read books my professors say we must read to do well in the class. But outside of school, I can only think of one book I’ve purchased and read for pleasure in the past year.

That book is Black American Psycho by Ernest Baker. Baker is a former music journalist who is best known for his work for Complex, Four Pins, Gawker, and Rolling Stone, and most importantly being friends with Drake and naming his mixtape with Future What a Time to Be Alive. Baker became a internet sensation solely for being himself. He shared his radical music opinions to Twitter, which would spawn hundreds of RT’s and many angry reactions. He wrote about loving Drake unashamedly, he wrote about being depressed when amazing nights ended, he wrote about being black dating white women, he even wrote about the greatest movie of all time: Mean Girls. Ernest Baker, to me, was the most relatable, interesting writer. And then he was accused of assaulting his ex-girlfriend, who was a well known Complex editor. For months, he stayed off social media, only returning this past summer to announce she lied about the alleged assault (and dropped all charges before the assigned court date) and to expose all of her lies. He did so in an unforgettable Twitter rant and the “novel,” Black American Psycho, which I purchased for $15 on Amazon immediately and read in one sitting. It is people like Baker, who have impeccable stories, that to this day connect to the hyper-digital youth and still sell books.

For this reason, I believe that though libraries are irrelevant, books are alive and well. They certainly do not sell the way they once did, but there are still lots of people with interest in reading. There is a reason why Amazon’s book department is so wildly successful and why they (among other book outlets) developed technology like the Kindle to make reading easier in the digital age.