Don’t get me wrong. I love the Internet. Even though I was already in my 40s by the time the PC revolution happened, just like virtually everybody else, I’ve gradually become reliant on e-mail and surfing the Net. For anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave for the last twenty years or so, it’s no secret that the Internet contains a wealth of information (and misinformation); it’s entertaining; it’s opinionated; it’s a companion when you’re feeling in need of a friend and a battleground when you’re in the mood for a good old-fashioned food fight. The Internet is also a great resource for writers trolling for facts to back up their arguments. But it’s not the only show in town. Not by a long shot.

In a comment to a xombyte of mine, someone actually made fun of me for saying that I preferred books over the Internet. After considering the implications of such a peculiar reaction, it occurred to me how radically the world has changed since I was his age. I speculated on what a life glued to a computer screen or a mobile device every spare moment must be like, where you inhabit a virtual world and only come up for air to eat and sleep, watch a little mindless TV, and interact with friends and family off-screen if you happen to run into them.

Recently I was horrified to watch a segment on one of the TV magazine shows on how computer communication has taken over the academic and social lives of kids. One teenager who was interviewed commented blithely that he couldn’t even remember the last time he cracked a book. He claimed that instead of actually reading the required books for a course, he would just visit a Cliff Notes-style website popular with students and download summaries to hand in to his teachers. And this kid is apparently the rule, not the exception. One can only imagine with horror a future filled with accomplished technogeeks like him with the attention spans and intellectual capacities of turnips: virtual world-addicted kids who’ve never read Shakespeare or Emerson or Darwin in the original, but rather sterile summaries of the plot lines and major points from one of thousands of cheat sheet websites.

The moral to my rant? Remember that books have a vital role to play in the mental, spiritual and intellectual lives of human beings. Don’t give up the intense pleasure of reading books in favor of an Internet-obsessed life. Books expand your mind and lift your spirits in a way that the Net can never hope to do. If you can’t afford your own books, check them out of the local library. That way you’ll save some trees and be inspired at the same time. Yes, you can read many books on line, but for me, reading off a plastic screen is no substitute for the simple act of page turning. As much as I wouldn’t want to give up what the Internet brings to me, it will never take the place of the books in my life.