Is Reading Dead?

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

One of my biggest passions in life is reading. Whilst I love being active and running around, one of my favourite things is to sit down quietly with a book. I am not sure exactly what single thing about reading I love. Perhaps its a form of escapism in that my mind is completely focused on something other than reality or maybe it is the knowledge that we are able to take from reading which I don t believe we can get from any tv documentary. Whatever it is, reading is one of the things that truly calms me.

I love movies and tv as much as the next 23 year old. I don t spend much time watching them, and I definitely don t play many computer games. However, I do believe that literature still has an important place in our society. Sadly, I am of a minority. I have actually met some people my own age who have never finished a book before. And to me, this is crazy, and a shame. With the rapid growth in technology, the act of reading has largely been left behind. People would rather sit and watch something come on screen before their eyes, than have their mind make up their own images, ideas, sounds and opinions in their head. When we read, the author tells us something, but it is up to our minds to process this information into a way we can understand. Whereas, with a movie, this is done for us. And people prefer this.

And so reading, both of fiction and non fiction, is more and more becoming a thing of the past. People are no longer buying books. If they do, they buy a second or third hand copy off amazon. Which in turn means the authors do not make as much money, which then means their is less incentive and allure to become an author. Which then means the quality of modern literature will decline.

In my opinion, authors should follow the lead of the music industry and put their products online- for a very cheap price, if not free! Already, there are online library’s such as project Gutenberg, where you can download certain books for free. At the moment, the books available are fairly unknown authors and the classics. However, I believe all authors should put their books onto sites like this. It would not only increase exposure of great modern authors to a wider audience, it would also mean that other up and coming authors, who are extremely talented but who have not made it yet, have a chance to get their stuff out too, in the same marketplace as the great modern authors.

I believe that the book industry needs to change as the music industry has. This has begun with the creation of kindles and downloadable books on tablets and laptops, however, until the literature is made more affordable, the next generations will carry on choosing the lazier, easier option of downloading a cheap or free movie and watching that instead.