Evan: Here is my bold prediction—feel free to agree or disagree, not that either of us can predict the future anyway. My bold prediction is that physical books—not the digital or audio kind, just plain physical books—are never going to completely go away. What do you think?
Nathan: That’s a good question. I think of an example from the past that isn’t totally related to books, but it has some application. When computers saw wide-scale adoption in the late 1990s, there was a lot of talk that we would be doing away with a lot of paper. The funny thing is that 25 years later, even though we have more technology now than ever, our paper use has actually gone up. Wide-scale paper use has not gone away; in fact, it has increased.
Evan: I think of the show The Office. The underlying premise for the majority of that show was whether paper was going out of business. The Scranton branch in Pennsylvania was always worried about it. It has kind of proven true what you said—it hasn’t gone away, and if anything, it’s thriving.
Personally, I think some physical books will go away, and we are already seeing that with textbooks. I hated having to carry a massive backpack and drop thousands of dollars on textbooks in post-secondary education. Your bag was full hauling those things around all day. Now, students can buy all their books online in the form of an e-reader, and I see the practicality in that. But for your own reading purposes and enjoyment, physical books are different. I can see newspapers going away, and magazines are an interesting one.
Nathan: Magazines are a tough one. You still go to any major retailer like Superstore or Walmart, and you see a load of magazines. The shelves are still getting stocked and people are still picking them up with their groceries. This is 25 years after they said paper would disappear or our usage would go down. I think the same applies to books.
With some of the major book retailers in Canada, sales have actually gone up a little bit. It’s not by massive margins—we’re talking half a percentage point or a percent a year—but I don’t think books in a physical form will ever completely disappear. People just like to pick up a physical book. It’s something you don’t have to turn on or off. Maybe people won’t have solely print books in their house anymore because we have all adopted a diversified view of purchasing books, whether it’s e-books on a Kindle or audiobooks on our phones while driving to work. But based on that computer example from the ’90s, we are here today with more tech than ever—cell phones, tablets, and screens everywhere—yet you still see people reading physical books.
Evan: Funny enough, physical books are pivoting in a weird way where people now love them from a decorative standpoint. I imagine they still intend on reading them and don’t just use them as decorative pieces, but it’s interesting that people love the physical element. It shows character in a home. When people walk into a house, they naturally gravitate toward looking at the books on someone’s shelf to get an idea of who that person is, how they live, and what they believe.
Nathan: It’s true. Even when I’ve had people over at my place, they right away gravitate toward my bookshelves, ask questions, and engage. I agree that the practicality of books is going to change.
Evan: Here is the one kicker I think physical books have over digital, audio, or video formats. It is one of the few pieces of entertainment left where you are looking at hard paper. I know e-readers are easy on the eyes, but there is a distinct nostalgia when you go to a store, pick a book off the shelf, and flip through those crisp, brand-new pages. People still like a physical book in a way that they don’t value other things. With a physical book, you don’t have to plug it in, power it on, adjust the brightness, or format the text. There is an attractiveness to that simplicity. Granted, books are heavy if you are lugging them around. Am I going to haul 30 books on a trip to Mexico? No, you’re going to pull out your e-reader or Kindle for that. But if you’re just sitting at home on a day off wanting to read, a lot of people still choose a physical print copy.
When I take trips out to Indigo or Chapters, there are always people perusing the shelves. You see people walking up to the cashier with a stack of books a foot high, spending $200. I still see a lot of that happening, so I don’t think physical books are going away anytime soon. What would you say is the future of physical books?
Nathan: I think people will always gravitate toward physical books because they want to take a break from technology. As you alluded to, books are almost like the last frontier of doing something that doesn’t involve looking at a screen. It’s just looking at a piece of paper—a very fancy collection of paper, but paper nonetheless.
However, I notice when I go to bookstores that a lot of people are picking up smaller stacks of books that are around 200 or 300 pages. A lot of people don’t necessarily like reading books that are a thousand pages long anymore. I think the future of physical books is that we will absolutely still have them, but they probably won’t be as thick as they once were. People want a book they can digest and finish in the space of a few days, so we will likely see thinner books.
Evan: Here is my bold prediction, removing any kind of personal bias. I believe physical books are going to make a major comeback in the future. Will they ever reach the heights of popularity they had when they were early adopted and there were no other entertainment options? I don’t know. But I think they will make a comeback because of the rise of anxiety and depression. Because we are so locked into screens, screen time has skyrocketed, which takes a massive toll on our mental health. Physical books and the physical turning of pages offer a medium that gives our eyes and our brains a true break. The anxiety issue is becoming much more recognized now.
Nathan: You’re exactly right, and the research shows it. Because of the current pace of technology and looking at screens all day long for a variety of reasons, anxiety has gone way up. Studies link heavy screen time directly to higher rates of anxiety and depression compared to those who are able to power down and shut things off for a while.
I’m not saying you necessarily have to throw your cell phone away, but it is incredibly important to have a balance of screen time and off-screen time in your life. Who wants to deal with increased anxiety and depression? I would just urge people to find that balance. Enjoy your phone and your tablets, but don’t let them dominate your entire life day in and day out.
This is where physical books serve as a vital outlet. They get you away from screens while keeping your mind engaged. You are still reading and learning about different topics, but without a display in your face. To me, that is the core premise of why they could make a comeback: they are an antidote that allows you to completely tune out digital noise, use your imagination, and calm your anxiety.
I’ve done a lot more physical reading during stressful periods, and my anxiety dramatically went down when I took those digital breaks. I was still learning and staying highly active, but I was doing it through physical books. They hold a very important place in our society and our individual lives. If someone has never done a screen fast, a 30-day fast might be too long for the average person, but even just a week-long break from social media or screens makes a world of difference. Whenever I finish a break like that and go back on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram to catch up on what I missed, I always realize that I didn’t actually miss anything important. Taking a week off is not a big deal. We might disagree on a few things in the future, but this is definitely a topic where we see eye-to-eye.
Evan: No, I agree. We completely see eye-to-eye on it.
