The Evolution of Print and the Future Ahead

The history of the printing press has not been a clear one, even with someone saying “printing was an integral part of the general history of civilization”(78). This statement alone doesn’t suffice, instead Eisentein points out that the history of printing is excluded from other forms of historical literature, thus resulting in the criticized belief of its lack of historical importance. Despite its influence on the political, social and economic movements, we still don’t “know how print materials affected human behavior” (79), even with introducing the concept of standardization. The printing press was in essence, the perquisite for a historians work and in recent years have been the topic of conversation on whether or not we need to about re-developing printed materials. Culturally, print has become uniform; diverse in its own way. It did not however, introduce “silent reading”, but as Eisentein states, “it did encourage “silent instructors” (83). Textbooks during this time became popular, and even with this new popularity, lectures still continued. With book demands, came bible needs, which presented itself as a guide to living a Godly lifestyle. With any profound technology, limitations are almost inevitable. The printing press promoted the increase of individualism: people now wanting to read alone instead of reading with a group. In the same token some populations did benefit from the printing press like the urban populations, enabling them to link together because of this new wave of communication.

In the, “Future in Reading” article by Kevin Kelly, the new print revolution is considered to be “changing”, what we consider books and what it means to be literate(Kelly). What is being presented is a “living book”, where everything can be easily accessible. Because of the increasing book technologies, many bookstores are going out of business, and there is less of a demand for published books. It goes to show you that the digital world is getting its hands on everything. Videos and other new digital devices are created simply to, “project the emotions of the book” (Vook), which (if willing), will cause the increase in more reading thanks to multimedia. New E-books allows readers to read aloud. These new devices are surprisingly beneficial to authors in terms of reader responses suggestions and cash revenues. One user of the E-book says, “it’s like having a huge library at your fingertips, but with stuff you would never think to look at. (Helen black) In a sense it allows you to broaden your horizons.

With all of this information alone, I can already assure you that the current state of our society is consumed with these technologies, and soon it will be impossible to ignore them. I personally wouldn’t spend over $800.00 on an electronic reading device, when I can easily check books out for free or pay less at a bookstore. The article “future of reading”, includes a remark made by an e-book user who says, “It’s like having a huge library at your finger tips, but with stuff you would never think to look at”, but couldn’t you get the same effect by entering a library and exploring it? Don’t get me wrong, but the iPads and e-books are known and praised for being compatible but one can ask for how long? Its not like you can take those devices to the beach and not get it fires, whereas if you take a regular printed book you wouldn’t have to worry about that, or whether or not it has enough battery life. At this rate, there is no turning back to simplistic things, but rather a demand for high tech devices only to do more damage on your wallet. If new technologies continue (which it will) it will only encourage sedentary lifestyles; if you have a “huge library at your finger tips”, then what’s the need in getting up to go to a library?

Referenced from:

Pham, By Alex. "The Future of Reading." PhysOrg.com - Science News, Technology, Physics, Nanotechnology, Space Science, Earth Science, Medicine. Web. 09 Oct. 2010. http://www.physorg.com/news198955146.html;

Crowley, David and Paul Heyer. Communication in History: Technology,

Culture, Society, 5^th edition. “ Aspects of Printing Revolution” Boston: Pearson, 2007, originally published in 2003.