Are books an obsolete medium

Even though readership of both magazines and books is limited by the growing problem of adult illiteracy in the United States there has been a growing trend in the low level literacy skills of adults.  Many of these individuals had hard times deciphering messages in everyday newspaper articles.  Upwards of 20% of the adult population lacks the literacy skills required to effectively function in society.  Reading is also at risk with those who know how to read.  People are reading far less for leisure time than they used to, and generally when people are reading on the go they now have the luxury of having an eReader on their smartphones.  So I would think that in today’s first world countries that are growing increasingly dependent on instant information from a multitude of sources like Google and other outlets, people have almost convinced themselves that the necessity of reading is in fact becoming less important.  Just look at the array of spell checkers we have on our computers, phones, email accounts and in many other areas of our daily lives.  I would say that books are becoming more obsolete as a medium in today’s society because of these reasons.  However that doesn’t mean that less developed countries can’t gain from books as a medium similar to the ways in which companies license obsolescing technology in these countries.