Anyone capable of making the effort necessary to engage with characters on the page ought to be able to deal with his or her own feelings about those characters and what happens to them. The minority who cannot or will not are unlikely to be motivated only by what they read. Reading is a much more interactive business than watching film, and because of that, it is also much more satisfying to those accustomed to it. I don't believe that reading is, as you have suggested it might be, 'a throwback to a vanishing past'. For one thing, it's much too convenient a form of entertainment to be thrown away.
Books are relatively cheap, portable, comfortable to hold, and easy on the eye.
I think they will survive. I certainly could not be happy in a world without books. I read at every possible opportunity, mainly fiction and biography because I am more interested in people than anything else. I read in bed at night, over meals when I am alone, in the bath, on the tube, nearly everywhere. They help me work out my plots, get to know my characters, and rehearse their dialogue.