Sample IELTS Task 2 essay: will printed books and newspapers die?

These days, more and more people read news and books on the internet instead of buying them in paper. Some people think that in the future nobody will buy printed newspapers or books because they can read everything online for free. I do not completely agree with this idea.

It is true that the internet has changed the way we read. Many people prefer to read news on their phone because it is fast, free and they can do it anywhere. Also, e-books are cheaper than paper books and you can carry many of them in one small device. For these reasons, the sales of printed newspapers have gone down a lot in recent years, and many newspapers now exist only online.

However, I do not think that printed newspapers and books will disappear completely. First, many people still enjoy the feeling of holding a real book and turning the pages. Reading on a screen for a long time can also hurt the eyes and is tiring. Second, not everything online is free. Many good websites and newspapers ask people to pay for their articles, so the internet is not always free.

In my opinion, printed books and newspapers will become less popular, but they will not die. There will always be some people who love real books and are ready to pay for them.

In conclusion, although it is true that more people read online and printed media is becoming less popular, I disagree that nobody will buy printed newspapers or books in the future. Both forms will probably exist together.

The digital revolution has transformed how we consume the written word, leading some to predict that printed newspapers and books will vanish entirely as people turn to freely available online content. While I accept that print is in decline, I strongly disagree with the claim that physical publications will disappear altogether.

There is, of course, considerable evidence for the shift towards digital reading. The internet offers unrivalled convenience: news can be accessed instantly from a smartphone, while a single e-reader can store an entire library. These advantages, combined with the lower cost of digital editions, explain why newspaper circulation has plummeted and why numerous titles have abandoned print for online-only formats.

However, the assertion that nobody will purchase printed material rests on two flawed assumptions. The first is that everything online is free. In reality, reputable journalism increasingly sits behind paywalls and subscriptions, precisely because quality content is expensive to produce; the notion of limitless free reading is therefore something of a myth. The second flawed premise concerns reader preference. Many people derive genuine pleasure from the tactile experience of a physical book and find prolonged screen reading tiring and detrimental to concentration. Printed books also retain symbolic and aesthetic value as gifts, collectibles and objects of design that no digital file can replicate.

In conclusion, although digital media will undoubtedly continue to erode the dominance of print, I firmly reject the idea that physical newspapers and books will become obsolete. Far more probable is a future in which the two formats coexist, with print occupying a smaller but enduring niche sustained by readers who value it.