CreateDebate


Debate Info

6
12
True False
Debate Score:18
Arguments:10
Total Votes:19
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Argument Ratio

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 True (4)
 
 False (6)

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jessald(1915) pic



Books are losing relevance

True

Side Score: 6
VS.

False

Side Score: 12
2 points

Books, as a medium, are too one way. You can't immediately discuss them with masses of people the same way you can with text on the internet.

Over the last few years I've found myself picking up a book, but never getting more than half way through or so before I get bored. I find myself wishing I could comment on certain sections, and read comments by others, and have those comments filtered by up/down voting.

The internet adds so much value to textual content that books to me are seeming more and more archaic.

Side: True
pvtNobody(645) Disputed
1 point

I utterly disagree with the idea that books are one way. Paper based books allow you to scribble in the margins if you wish so that you can remember what you intend to discuss at a later time. It sounds to me that you simply have a short attention span. The fact that more and more people seem to be suffering from this affliction does not make books obsolete.

Side: False
jessald(1915) Disputed
1 point

I didn't mean to imply that books were completely one way, just that they are less so than say, arguments here on CreateDebate.

I don't think my becoming bored with books has to do with a short attention span. I used to read quite a lot when I was younger.

But these days I find myself vastly preferring reading small chunks of text online. On the internet you have thousands of short statements from many people (blog entries, CreateDebate arguments, forum posts, etc.). Individually these short statements aren't very valuable, but through tools such as CreateDebate's up/down voting we can filter them and aggregate the most valuable content. Also you can hear many wildly different opinions from many people in the same time it would take you to absorb the thoughts of one author in one book.

Multiple voices and filtering tools make reading many snippets on the internet much more interesting for me than trudging through a book.

Side: True
1 point

soon everything will be on-line and in media books will become old fashioned

Side: True

The eReader is replacing paper books. Plus, you can download the NY Times best sellers in a few seconds and begin reading right away.

Side: True

I don't believe that to be true. I am rarely bored by a book that is well written and I personally have no need to discuss the contents or ins and outs of situations until I'm finished reading.

For me books represent a chapter in my life that I lost through the dark days of my depression. It was at least two years before I could pick up any book and read more than a paragraph...whose meaning escaped me anyway! I'd throw it across the room in such frustration and just stopped trying. After a very long time something had come up in the news concerning the Princess Diana case, and having read all the serious books written I wanted to look something up but couldn't find it. So I picked up the book I thought the answer was in and decided to give it a shot. OMG....I was reading! Sure it was something I knew plenty about but still, I was actually reading a book. I read all of them again until the habit of reading was, once again, instilled in me and decided to pick up a book I had ordered, but hadn't read yet, and try. The book had been written by James Frey and was titled "A Million Little Pieces." I'll never forget it.

So books have a great relevance for me and I never want to be without them again. I won't be as I am surrounded by them here in my library and right now I'm reading two that I won in our contest. Well Whoop-de-Doodle for me!!! LOL.

Side: False for me
2 points

"A Million Little Pieces" is a great example of why books are, and always will be, relevant. It is a fantastic story with interesting characters, but it also connects with the reader on a much deeper level than pure entertainment. You can read a book and it can inspire you to change your life, it's not often other forms of media have that effect.

Side: False
2 points

I define books not as the paper and ink that one holds in their hand, but as the text contained within. The actual medium on which the information or stories is contained is of little import, but the concept of the book will never lose its relevance. I expect that the publishing industry will quickly soon find that they must adapt to a higher demand for electronic media in the coming years. Already products like Amazon's Kindle and Sony's Digital Book are proving that an electronic book is superior to its paper based cousin. For me, what has always held me back from the brink of a purchasing a product like this was the display, LCDs are hard on the eyes over time; and the single use of the product. One has been fixed and I believe that the other will be dealt with shortly.

No, I do not believe that the concept of the book is losing relevance, I do believe however that paper based books will become rarer and rarer. Honestly from an environmental standpoint I can't say that the removal of paper from our lives is a bad thing. And the convenience of carrying one's entire library with oneself is very appealing.

Side: False
2 points

Books, no matter how irrelevant they may seem, play a very important part in developing your vocabulary and supporting your spelling capablilities. Reading also helps strengthen your eyes and, probably most importantly, it opens up your mind to accept new and far fetched posibilities that you may have never thought of before. I personally would say that reading fictional tales are, to an extent, more important for any developing person than reading nonfictional stories as justified in my previous sentance. (;

Side: False
1 point

There's always something about books that other mediums just cannot compare to. Pick up a good book and read the first page. If you like it, you would turn the page. And so on and so forth. It gives you a sense of control and order. It's nicely put into chapters and paragraphs. Other things like the Internet and television usually cannot support this.

Side: False