What's stopping us from reading books?
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Loading... - Tobias Collin
- 14 Jul 2022
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There was once a time when separating me from a book was similar to the process of unscrewing a tightly sealed jar. At some point the parents had to give, since there was not a single thing on earth getting between me and the chapter that I'm aaaalmost about to finish—before I could start doing anything else.
And I'm sure you can guess where this story goes.
Now I spend days kicking myself over why I can't remember the last time I finished a book. I end up thinking that maybe I'm just addicted to my phone, numbing my brain with a gazillion pieces of content everyday. Maybe I don't have the same attention span or patience that I used to and maybe, all of these are just excuses. But the burgeoning question remains: how did I get here? And can I unleash the wee bookworm that could devour books back?
A 40-year study conducted between 1955 and 1995 on trends of leisure reading within the population found that an average person's reading time reduced to half, especially during the initial phase of television (1955–1975). It also found that the combination of paid work and domestic tasks among the post-war generations, and the increasing diversity in leisure activities, also resulted in the decline.
How true are the findings of this study to the readers of today? Are these aforementioned issues keeping them from their favourite books as well? If so, what are they doing to counteract it?
To find these answers, I ended up talking to a few bookworms around me.
Sushmita said, "The state of mind required to read has been missing for me lately. I read so many articles per day that when it's time for me to actually relax, which is usually around 10:00pm, I'm too exhausted to put in the effort to read a book."
"Earlier, I would start a book and read it through the day or the weekend or even during holidays. But now, these fragments of 'free-time' are preoccupied with 200 other tasks, cleaning the house, getting the baby ready, and visiting relatives. So it's just easier to watch something as opposed to reading a book," she explained. Read More...
