MT: Top Reasons Why Reading Books Will Always Be Useful
MD: We have PCs, game consoles, and, of course, smartphones to play with. But reading books, paper or electronic ones, will always remain a priority. Here is why
Why Reading Books Will Never Become Obsolete
The modern pace of technological development and the changing interests of the Generation Z (as guys from dissertify.com will confirm), who now opt for tablet computers and online networking more than they opt for reading or real-life communication, make people jump to conclusions. One of them is that reading, reading books specifically, will disappear as a concept in the years to come.
This could not be further from the truth. It’s true enough that there are so many other sources of getting information today that books are no longer the primary one. But even slight digging into the importance of reading will reveal multiple benefits – ones that can’t be neglected.
What are those benefits? Development of imagination, for one. Computer games, movies, interactive learning – all of those present you with an image. You don’t have to imagine, everything is taken care of for you. Reading, on the other hand, is a way to develop imagination and hence creativity. With modern employers requiring creativity for even the dullest of positions, reading becomes indispensable.
Then there is the ability to express one’s thoughts. Ever wondered how Hemingway achieved such clarity in words and why Joanne Rowling’s words flow so smoothly? Practice and reading. The ability to express oneself, in the oral or written form, comes with time and through trial and error. But it also helps if you have an example to follow. It is easy to spot people that read extensively. They choose words carefully in a conversation and they think how to convey their message in the best way possible. And a person that doesn’t read? Well, you will hardly hear them say words like “ennui” or “derelict”.
Reading is also a way to get information in the least intrusive form. I am talking about fiction mostly, but biographies can be written in a very exciting way, too. Compare memorizing dates and names for a history class and reading about them in a historical novel. In the first case scenario, you are likely to keep them in your memory right until the exam. In the second, you can retain such information for your entire life. People like stories and it’s easy to memorize them. That’s why the information, woven into such stories, is likely to be remembered. Just think about all the names and dates and events from “Gone with the Wind”.
Last but not least, it’s a way of isolation and a safe one at that. Ever heard of a person who starved to death and died of exhaustion because they locked themselves in a room with tons of books and refused to get out? Exactly. There are other ways of escaping, like video games, but they come with a list of related dangers. Reading is the easiest, the safest, and arguably the most effective way to escape from one’s life for at least a couple of hours.
I’m sure there are other reasons, too, like learning foreign languages, for example. But these are the top ones as I see it. Reading will remain an integral part of our lives, rapid technological development or not.