Is print dead? In my opinion, if we are at the point in our society where we are asking ourselves that question, then we are hastily laying the wreath on the tombstone before the death has even occurred. I believe that print will survive as long as we allow our imaginations to survive. For me, the death of print means the death of literary creativity.

 

On Fastcompany.com, a blogger and a print writer go head to head to decide whether or not print is in fact dead. The blogger claims “ Print is where words go to die.” This sentence made me swell with anger. I am certain that the words of Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Poe and Fitzgerald are not dead, even for my generation. Their words are more powerful then any half-assed blog. Print is where words are alive and well, print is where words survive, online media is the slaughterhouse.

 

Publishing 2.0.com also addresses this same issue, and an interesting concept was raised. The writer claims that it’s because of how print is distributed now that is one of the key factors of why print is “dying”. That we would much rather read electronically, rather then on pages. But what can be more impersonal and cold then reading a great novel or story on a laptop. Do people still not enjoy curling up with a book on a cold night, wrapping themselves in blankets and endless pages?

 

Print is not dead, but it is on its last stand. But I promise to be one of the few to defend it. And at the end of the final battle, when print truly does die someday, I will be there strewn across the battlefield, with a piece of paper in one hand, and a pen in the other.