Reader/Writers or Listener/Watchers?

In 1995 I published an article in which I argued that a new world was emerging in which a "listening/watching" culture was replacing a "reading/writing" one. I went on to predict that books would be replaced by silver discs by 2010 ("A Cultural Revolution: From Books to Silver Discs," Metropolitan Universities, Volume 6, Number 1, pp. 39-51.). How wrong I was. Silver discs were merely an interim step in the revolution. It is now apparent that books are rapidly being replaced by "The Cloud." The number of readers, and time spent reading was decreasing rapidly in 1955. Both of these statements are even more true today. At the time I wrote the article many were wringing their hands over such a calamity. I felt that it was not reading/writing that was the concern, but whether the new generation of listeners/watchers could be moved from being consumers of the new media to producers/authors/directors of audio and video products. I am trying to involve students in creating and producing podcasts, audio books and readings, blogs, short videos, and tweets on Twitter so that they are "authors" and not just consumers in a listening/watching" world.