Are Books About to Become a Thing of the Past?
Books have been a common form of entertainment for centuries and have only become more accessible as time has progressed. However, when the world entered the technological era, books began to lose their popularity, as televisions and computers entered the scene. Does a decline in reading affect teenage generations today? Should the world give up on reading, or not?
Since the Epic of Gilgamesh from ancient Mesopotamia, humans have been recording their thoughts and ideas on physical materials so they can be distributed and preserved. Literature was the first real means of communication with people outside of a person's immediate community. As time progressed, more and more people were taught to read and write, and books began to be used for entertainment. Additionally, multiple different forms of art sprung from writing, like poetry, books, screenplays, and more. Literature allowed people from around the world to share their own thoughts, ideas, cultures, religions, and languages with the world at large. However, as technology advances, fewer teens are choosing to read, instead preferring to watch shows or play video games.
Large tech companies began to roll out home entertainment systems like the Wii, Game Cube, and Game Boy in the 1980s and 1990s. Suddenly, kids all over the world were scrambling to buy these new video games. As this technology progressed and became more accessible, many teens left reading in the dust. Fast forward to today: according to a study conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA) in August of 2018, less than 20 percent of teens in America read a book as a daily activity, while over 80 percent said they much prefer to go on social media or watch television. For the teens that choose to spend more time on their phones, rather than reading before bed, scientists have observed a decrease in the average amount of sleep that they are getting each night, according to a study conducted in 2018 by the APA. And there may be other consequences, too.
Frenchie French, Athenian’s Upper School Librarian, said, “All disciplines of thought and study are grounded in the written word. Reading for fun is also extremely important and should be prioritized. So many parts of your brain are working when you read, and I'd argue it makes you a lot smarter, both in expanding one's knowledge and in processing information.”
Scientists found that reading for pleasure is stimulating in a different way than screen-based entertainment. Reading at night calms you and prepares your brain from sleep, whereas the blue light from screens overstimulates your brain, making it harder to shut down.
In addition, reading can be a source of connection and conversation. Speaking about his time in high school, Frenchie said, “The library on campus was a huge hotspot, and I frequently checked out whatever newly-published melodramatic teen novels I could find. Everybody was reading Twilight.” These days, with social media readily available to nearly everybody, talking to new people from anywhere in the world is much easier.
Athenian students spoke of their own views on reading. 10th-grader Uma Raghavan said, “For me, reading is a form of escapism. It's a way of experiencing things that I would never get to experience in real life, whether it's fantasy worlds or just a different time period of perspective. It's also a way for me to relax and immerse myself in a world where I don't have to worry about homework or extracurriculars. To me, the most important thing about reading is that it builds empathy. If you can regularly put yourself into a fictional character's position and feel what they feel in a book, it's infinitely easier to empathize with people in real life. Reading can help teach people how to understand someone else's point of view, even if they don't agree with all of their choices or opinions.”
