Ok, so I’ll be totally transparent. I’m resisting our digital age.  In a round of decluttering, I have a 22 volume set of Encyclopedias that I’m resisting releasing.  The story I tell myself is:  My daughter needs to know how to use them as reference tools, and they’ll be really helpful when doing research projects.  And, she may need them to site resources, just like I did in school.  Yet, in today’s world, everything is online, and the truth is, we probably don’t “need” them.   My truth:  It’s important to me she knows how to use resources other than on-line.

Which brings me to the question – are books becoming obsolete? Will there be a time when we are no longer reading books, in our hands, and everything will be digitized?

I hope not. I’m old school.  I want a book in hand.  I highlight, underline, use Post-it flags, arrows, and make notations throughout my books as I read.   Even with fiction.

The idea of moving toward a completely digital age is less than thrilling to me.   While I love the convenience of the internet, my cell phone, iPad, etc., I still buy books.  It’s been one of my two vices my entire life – books and music.  Yes, I still buy CD’s too – not as much as books, because I download a lot, but I do buy CD’s.   If you’re like me, you used to buy albums, and can remember spending hours listening to them, reading the covers and inserts, and maybe you even crossed your fingers like I did, hoping the lyrics would be written on the sleeve inserts.

Friends of mine teach and have shared that in some districts, books are obsolete and have been replaced by iPads in their curriculum.   This floored me.  I just can’t imagine a world without books, or libraries without books, or my home without them.

What about you?   Do you think books will eventually be obsolete?  Many magazines are all digital.  Will our libraries be replaced with all media files?   What’s our future hold for us?   Do you still read books or do you prefer digital? If you’re a book lover, I want to hear from you.  I’d love to know I’m not alone in my desire for an actual book in hand!