Technological advancement and the Internet have turned humanity’s existence upside down in multiple ways, including how we read. Digital platforms, e-books and online resources with their advantages are worried about pushing conventional mediums to the verge of extinction. I personally hold the view that printed newspapers and books will continue to imprint in our future by offering intangible values.
It is undeniable that online resources are proven to be more prominent regarding costs and convenience. In an era where smartphones are universal, the Internet effectively reduces the costs of publishing, printing and distributing physical copies as
this
leviathan is now the world repository of information that shuttles and stores millions of bytes of data uploaded and downloaded every minute.
As a result
, the prices that readers have to pay to enjoy their favourite publications
also
plummet. Platforms,
such
as Scribd or Amazon’s kindle, are excellent examples that grant readers free access to millions of titles or, at only a subscription fee of 8 pounds per month, millions of exclusive authorised ones.
In contrast
, a physical novel would cost around 15 to 30 pounds. The Internet
also
allows knowledge and news to be conveniently accessed without space and time constraints, compared to the past when people had to walk down to newsstands every morning to get local editions reporting the previous day’s events.
Despite all those benefits, printed mediums will withstand and be irreplaceable. From the perspective of human history, stories, events, and techniques have been documented in various forms;
however
, only physical books have shown their perseverance against time and become the dominant form in terms of preserving knowledge. What printed mediums’ values are, including books, newspapers and many other forms, have extended far beyond being a physical item; they are our heritages and the evidence of our existence, which online data cannot secure when being constantly at risk of being deleted from servers.
Moreover
, the practice of holding and turning pages can elicit distinct feelings - things that are reading on a screen do not have to give - the feelings that many need to nourish their spirits.
In conclusion,
although
online resources have their own edges, suitable to the modern age, printed mediums will remain their ground and be bought as they are the guardian of history and the nourisher of feelings.