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I really think this death of reading think is over blown. Reading will never go away completely and language and how we interact with each other has always changed based on new technologies. Frankly, I think that the move towards digital devices will open up reading to more people, not less. How many people live in areas where they don't have easy access to lots of books? Wouldn't being able to download an entire library make it more likely that they'll read more?
Yes, there will always be many people who will take the easy way out, but there are studies I've read about that show that just as some people are becoming more isolated due to the new social networking technologies, more people are becoming more social as their social networks grow and they can interact with people all over the world. The same will happen with reading. It's easier than ever to find eclectic books from all over the world that you can read. Old books that would have been lost to most people before are being digitized and made available to everyone.
Yes, there will be some ups and downs as the new technologies are integrated, but reading isn't going away, it's just changing.
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