Not all digital media completely replaces its older versions. A lot of the time they coexist.Although people own digital cameras they still like to print their images (the good ones anyway). When reports are generated in computer packages they are still printed out for meetings etc. Books are a very long lasting medium. If you are on holiday and lying by the pool or lying on the beach you wouldn't want some expensive reading screen device. A £3 paperback is so much better.

But it is the very physical nature that will keep books from being replaced. People enjoy holding the physical. You can pass down books through the family, this is simply not possible with words on a hardrive. It is often an ambition which people have to dedicate a room in their house to be a library. The scene in Beauty and the Beast comes to mind with the swinging ladder. The stature of having a library in your house cannot be replaced by a computer hard drive.

Sharing can occur via a physical book. This can be done without the risk of virus infection which can cost you the price of a new laptop if left untreated.

As to students, when the material is on the computer screen it is almost impossible to write notes in and around the wording like you can do with physical books. Highlighting is an extremely mechanical task online and sometimes does not show up enough to suit purpose. It is much more time effective to highlight a book with a highlighting pen and then to write notes in the margin. It is for these reasons that books will not be replaced by digital media versions.

This is an argument truly from a person cultivated into laziness through our age of technology. Yes, it is easier to search information; it is much quicker, but this is not necessarily a good thing. It means that students no longer need to be as dedicated in order to get good university degrees. As students are getting better grades for doing less work, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find suitable employees from the hundreds with the same degree classification. It used to be an achievement to get a 2:1, nowadays as searching information becomes easier, a 2:1 is a sign of mediocrity. Students are no longer taught the ability of time organisation via their degree. Research takes minimal time compared to before the age of technology.

With a generation of 2:1 bearing doofus's in the making, perhaps the easiness of searching reading material will result in a reverting to the use of physical books to get the nation thinking once more.