SmartHomeOwners

Before the Internet, people had to rely on the printed page, television and radio to get their information.  But today, the Internet serves as the information highway for news, magazines, products and even financial data.  But what about books?  Are we reading fewer books today than pre-Internet Age?  Let's explore how the Internet has affected reading in general as well as "book" reading.

People are not necessarily reading less, but the medium used has been changed drastically.  News and articles that were once offered in print only are now available online for all to read.  How-to and self-help books are now being offered in both print and e-book format.  Some are only available as e-books, meaning the only way to read the book is to download it using an e-book reader.

As for personal enjoyment

books such as longer novels (romance, westerns, mystery, etc.), studies show these are still going strong in print.  Perhaps this can be attributed to the fact that novels are typically very long, and reading them on a computer screen just isn't as relaxing as reading a book while sitting cozily by the fireplace or while soaking in a warm bubble bath.  When someone wants to settle down with a good book...they want a real book in their hands!

According to a study in 2005 titled "Reading and Buying Books for Pleasure" by the Department of Canadian Heritage, reading habits were compared with those analyzed in a similar study from 1991.  The study showed that the time spent reading printed books for pleasure actually stayed constant between the two studies.  The number of books read per year, however, decreased from 24.4 per year in 1991 to 16.6 in 2005.

So while shorter reading materials are easy to upload to the Web, longer novels pose more difficulty for publishers.  There are also copyright issues to contend with as no author wants his book available to all the world for free.  The printed book still seems to the be the best form of media for selling novels, children's books and also many inspirational type books. 

For now, readers are still enjoying their favorite novels in print but the Internet has caused a slow-down in how many books the average person reads per year.