Will the Internet Make Books Redundant in 20 Years?

304 Words2 Pages
Will The Internet Make Books Redundant in Twenty Years? Some of us believe that, 20 years from now, printed books will still be used as the main publishing modality. Others say that the so called e-books will replace the traditional books and, by this, become dominant. If we are to take into consideration the technology we have nowadays and the internet’s fast development rate, I am inclined to believe that physical books will slowly be replaced by electronic books. On the one hand, the Internet is at the moment not accessible to everyone. Countries with lower economical possibilities have a slow developing network, which makes e-books unavailable to the majority of that country’s populace. However, this imbalance will most likely be solved in the upcoming period. This is foreseeable because of the ever-growing number of computer users. On the other hand, the Internet makes for such an easy way for books and information in general to become available. It has proved a reliable system, which can be used by people of every age. For example, for a printed book to be distributed, it must first be multiplied, and then shipped to different corners of the world. On the internet, it can be easily duplicated, sent and accessed. Secondly, the existence of the internet lowers the costs involved in the making and marketing of books. Instead of turning wood to paper, then paper to book, it is more cost-efficient to simply distribute it online, making the whole process cheaper. For instance, copy-pasting a book is easier than printing a new one. In conclusion, despite the current imbalance in the availability, e-books will most certainly slowly take lead over printed books, to the point when they will be available to everyone. Thus, the Internet will eventually make books
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