Stephanie Murarus
Contributing Writer
Almost no one reads anymore. Library study rooms reach capacity within minutes, but nearly no one is there to check out books. With the increasing usage of smartphones and new-age media, students see no need to read. There is too much information to be consumed at once to be limited to one paperback; no encyclopedia can cover even a sliver of what the internet offers. In a digital world, there are less people relying on books to get entertainment than ever before. YouTube, TikTok, podcasts and online news are just a few among the vast array of media available at our fingertips, just clicks away. A question arises — with so much information to consume, why should we spend our time reading?
Our attention spans are dwindling. Screen times increase exponentially, while reading levels are diminishing at a rapid pace. According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, national average reading scores dropped a whopping three points from 2019 to 2022. In our day and age, it is rare to see someone able to concentrate on one task for so long. If you’ve ever been on the internet, I’m certain you have been overwhelmed by the sheer number of things on one screen. Internet pages with aggressive adverts, split screen TikTok videos with Family Guy clips playing on one side and Subway Surfers gameplay on the other. The fact of the matter is that, with so much to consume all at once, we have become accustomed to overwhelming our brains with information. Reading, to many, is simply too boring.
A potential culprit of this may also be the education system itself. By creating an emphasis on reading for academic purposes — especially with long, prescriptive texts — many students have begun to see reading as a chore. It is also difficult to find the time to read for pleasure. With overwhelming busy work and looming deadlines, there is barely enough time in the semester to eat, let alone enjoy a good book. These associations may lead students to stop exploring literature for leisure and make the generalization that all books are “boring.”
However, the decline of reading paper books does not automatically signify a decline in reading as a whole. Students are still reading, they are just reading differently. Online news and social media also involve a significant amount of reading at times. This does call into question the legitimacy of this kind of reading — is casual article skimming and caption perusing as enriching as diving into a good novel? I’m not too sure.
If you’ve made it this far, I’m impressed. I know that reading can be hard, especially when trying to separate yourself from technology to do so. Even 10 minutes a day is better than nothing. Reading can expand our vocabulary, help us study and teach us things we would have never known otherwise — breaking the cycle is the most important part. Congrats on reading all 493 words — don’t stop while you’re ahead!
