The Death of Literacy?

While I was pursuing my graduate degree at Xavier, I took several English classes taught by very traditional professors.  Professors who, more or less, spent great deals of time discussing the death of reading and writing at the hands of electronic readers (like the Kindle) and blogs (like this one).  While I never fully agreed with their analyses, I've spent some time recently thinking about the effect emergent technologies will have on literacy.

I own a Kindle.  Stephen gifted me one for my 27th birthday, and I love it.  I still prefer the feel of actual books, though I honestly can't remember the last time I bought one, but the convenience of a Kindle can't be beaten.  It fits in my purse, it's easy to read at the gym, and I can download books in a matter of seconds.  I'm reading more than I ever have and have an entire library of books at my fingertips at any given time.  So, for me, the Kindle has reawakened a love of literature.  But due to the success of e-readers like the Kindle, bookstores have been going out of business (Borders is one example).  Libraries are being shut down.  So what happens for the people who can't afford Kindles?  Not only the Kindles -- but the books that must be downloaded onto them?  Without libraries, where even the underprivileged have access to free books, what happens to literacy for all?  On a different note, it'll be interesting to see what effects the new technology will have on education.  Already, traditional text and workbooks are being replaced by IPads and Smart Boards.  By the time Gavin enters schools, will pencils and paper even be on the required school supply list?  And more importantly, what will that do to his reading and writing skills?

Now, as for blogging, my professors have argued that blogs as a whole are the death of quality writing.  Through blogging, everyone becomes a published author -- regardless of skill level, competency, perspective, etc.  I get their point -- some bloggers attempt to make careers out of their respective blogs, heavily pushing certain agendas, and can reach a huge audience with minimal effort.  There are no editors, no hoops to jump through on the way to publication.  It seems to be, more or less, a shortcut.

But here's my hang-up with the whole "evil blog" concept --
In a world where literacy as we know it is circling the drain, isn't any opportunity to write a good one?  Isn't the entire point of writing (and reading, really) to educate yourself, start conversations, and instigate further thought and reflection?  Don't blogs do exactly that?  This blog -- as are most I have come across -- is meant more for personal use than for real in-depth pondering, but I still pay attention to my grammar and word choice.  I still use an editing process and re-read my posts to check for coherence.  So I don't mind that this blog makes me a "published author"...because regardless of the newfound ease in putting my thoughts out there in the "blog"osphere, it is still your choice whether to read, think about, or respond to any of my posts.

I don't know.  I guess my thoughts are that we really have no choice but to embrace emergent technology and find ways to incorporate mediums like e-readers and blogs into our new literacy.  I'm still at a loss for how to make literature more accessible for the underprivileged should libraries disappear entirely, but I am confident that this struggle is no different than ones generations past have dealt with.