Is the ability to read and write more important today than in the past?

Reading and writing are important ways to communicate. We read newspaper and textbooks to get information and knowledge in the world. We express our opinions, feeling and emotion by writing reports, compositions, letters, etc.
In ancient times, technology wasn’t developed enough that people only got information from reading hand-writing books. If you were not able to read and write, you were unlikely to become a member of high-class. Especially when you were in an agricultural society such as China, you would be an inferior person forever. Reading and writing are the only formal ways to express oneself. Officers wrote composition to tell their opinions. Scholars read informative books to learn. Poets wrote love poems and sonnets to describe their emotions and passions. Without the ability to read and write, it would be very hard to make yourself be regarded.
Nowadays, there are more ways for delivering information and news, for example, TV, computer, etc. It’s much easier to know what happen in the world than before. Knowledge and massages are also delivered in different forms. Movies, Discovery channels, information sharing websites, these are the new ways that modern people use to fulfill their desire of learning. For example, when you watch a movie, you can feel the massage the director wants to give without reading the script. You just have to watch the sense, feel the visual, listen to the music and appreciate the expressions of the actors. People even get new ways to advance their reputation. Now there are many people becoming famous by going to talk shows or by uploading their videos to sharing websites and make a big fortune. These people are successful in different ways. Nowadays, some skills are becoming more advantageous than the ability of reading and writing.
With the ability to read and write, people can achieve some success in some frontiers. But there are still many things you can’t describe only with words, such as love and beauty. Maybe the status of reading and writing are no long as important as before.