KOCHI: “I’ve never known any trouble that an hour’s reading didn’t assuage,” French social thinker Charles De Secondat once reflected. Reading is one of the eternal pleasures of life. However, gone are the good old days when reading used to be a person’s premier hobby. As technology takes steady control of our lives, the sight of a person spending quiet time with a paperback in hand becomes a rare sight.Recent surveys suggest a widespread drop in reading amongst people. Be it men or women, young or old, rich or poor, there has been a significant decrease in the book reading habits in the society. And the most startling are the numbers involving youngsters. According to the latest survey conducted by the National Book Trust and National Council for Applied Economic Research, the time spent by an average literate youngster in the country on television and the Internet daily is over five times that of the time spent reading.So what is responsible for the decline in the reading practices in society? The usual suspects are the television, the Internet and lately, digital devices. Many parents are of the opinion that children prefer gadgets to the age-old pastimes like novels. A computerised game or a robot is the favourite present to the youngsters of our age.“A Play Station or an Android is the new ‘in’ thing. Youngsters in cities are exposed to them through TV and Internet and are thus attracted to these cheap thrills because they give the illusion of being cool,” says Sindhu, a working mother. The role of parents in encouraging reading habits among children in times like these cannot be overemphasized. However, few seem to have this realisation. “Of course I like to read, but I have a busy life and don’t have the time for it” is the frequent tune among adults today. Alternative methods of reading like e-books and audio books have had their share of success but nothing can replicate the charm of the traditional book. “A true book-lover will always prefer the printed copy because of its intimate nature,” says Jijo, store manager, DC Books. Apart from contributing richly to both intellectual and mental advancement, books are also trustworthy friends. These are the benefits that many in today’s generation seem to miss out on. In the bigger scheme of things, decreasing reading habits dwindles the ability to concentrate and most important of all, time spent with family. It will be wrong to suggest that there are no more literary aficionados in the young, but they are rapidly becoming a minority. “The reading trends have seen some changes over the years and it is unfortunately true that we have seen a fall in certain age groups, especially teenagers who don’t read serious fiction anymore. At the same time, there will always be people who enjoy reading in every generation,” Jijo adds.Not only have other elements taken over the interest of the youth, but they also seem to have ushered in an age where most children seem to see books as unnecessary and even burdening. Statistics reveal that 42 percent of college graduates hardly read another book after college, clearly pointing towards the notion among youngsters that books are forced on them at school. Even as the new media has made human life easier and efficient, it has robbed us of the good-old enthusiasm for the paperback. The fast urban life has completely changed human lifestyle and in this rat-race for money and success, ideas of quality leisure like book-reading have been left behind.
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