Read a book

Nowadays it seems like people are reading books–or other print media, for that matter–less than they used to. I’ll be the first to admit that I’m guilty as charged. Sure, I’m in the middle of reading a book of my own accord (meaning it’s not required for class), but in high school I would have been through three books by this point. I honestly can’t remember the last time a read a whole book all the way through: previous to my current book, I was reading Dante’s The Divine Comedy, but got bored of it after Inferno. This goes for other print media as well: newspapers, magazines, etc. I had to read the Wall Street Journal every day for a class, but stopped out of a while due to a sheer lack of interest.

But why is it that people don’t read print media any more? Computers. Mind you, I’m not a technology-hating Luddite, but computers–and especially the internet–are contributing to the downfall of literacy. Again, I’m guilty of this, too: I have a difficult time going more than a few hours without the precious internet and my computer.

Now, I’m not saying that computers or the internet are evil; quite the opposite. What I am saying is this: the internet makes things faster and easier. If you need to look up a fact, just go to a computer, browse to Google.com, and in mere seconds you’ve got the answer. Why spend minutes flipping through a book when a computer can find you the answer in seconds? Well, because, quite frankly, most likely you won’t have the book you need, and you’ll need to go to a library to find it. And that’s a lot of work!

So that sort of explains the research aspect, but as you’ll recall I mentioned that people are reading books, magazines, and newspapers less, too. Well, the latter two can generally be found on the internet. As I mentioned before I had a subscription to the Wall Street Journal and beause I’m a student it came with free access to the online version. But even if people have the online version, they’re more than likely not to read the whole article because they can skim it easier for key words or use the “find” feature to quickly locate sections with words they’re interested in.

Lastly, there are books. I’m sure most of you are well aware that most books (and I’m referring to novels here) are not available online. There is an increasing trend, however, of people publishing books online (I think). So how, then, do computers contribute to the decline of reading? It’s the same with TV. Critics of television call it the “idiot box;” studies have shown that after about twenty minutes of watching TV there is less brain activity than when you sat down. TV requires no input on the viewer’s part because all the information is provided to them. A book, however, requires more thinking because your brain has to processes the words and their meanings. Computers, though, are turning into the new TV; many people can watch TV on their computer, in fact, and not just shows available on the internet. Shows can be downloaded, or you can have a TV tuner where you plug a TV’s coaxial cable right into the computer. Though, I’m not trying to infer here that computers are becoming a the new “idiot box.” Instead, there’s an overload of information and “stuff” to do. You can play games, watch movies or TV, post on forums, write a blog, talk to friends and family; the possibilities are endless.

And it’s because there is so much to do on a computer that people are straying away from books and other print media. I find that most people only read a book when they have to for a class, which means if they’re in the real world working for the man they’re shit out of luck.

So take thirty minutes out of your day, find a comfy place to relax, and just read for a bit. It doesn’t matter what it is; just read.