ZHIVOTOVSKI: We cannot allow social media to replace reading for pleasure
Column: Are You Thinking What I Am Thinking?
As a kid, I used to spend all my time outside of school at the library or a bookstore, endlessly browsing the aisles looking for a new book to read. I loved stories and reading, not only because it was a great way to pass the time before I had a cell phone but also because it was an escape. Books allowed me to enter another world and go on adventures I could otherwise only dream of.
I learned more than I ever had in those days when I had my head stuck in a book, but I also remember how it all ended rather abruptly. As I entered my teen years and high school, I stopped reading for pleasure. It was years before I picked up another book for leisurely reading — I started again when the pandemic hit, and I was faced with a wall of boredom.
When I asked my friends about this, they all noted this same drop-off in reading. Many of them said that even to this day, they detest reading and have rarely read a book for pleasure for the past approximately 10 years.
This discussion got me thinking — why do we not read anymore? What has made us develop such an aversion to the practice, and is there any way to salvage our relationship with reading?
It seems that there was also a strong correlation between the rise of social media and the decrease in reading. Not only does social media present a new way to keep ourselves entertained, but it also creates an entirely new landscape for entertainment.
I used to run home to sit for hours on end and read my book, which kept me entertained for prolonged periods of time. This time quickly became overtaken by speed-scrolling through Instagram, sending Snapchat messages and posting pictures. Entertainment became much more visual and visceral — a departure from the drawn-out pages of text. Now, everything must be visually appealing to captivate me at a moment's notice.
The presence of social media and the internet, in general, also represent endless possibilities. Once you start a book, you are stuck with it for 300 or so pages, but with the internet, a whole story could be communicated in 8-second long videos and single-story images.
Maybe that puts a burden on books that they are not meant to carry. Perhaps the allure of a book is the fact that it is drawn out. It is a marathon and not a sprint. It is a story that unfurls itself with time and contemplation.
As a kid, I lost patience for this art form, and social media was no help, as it reinforced my short attention span and need for immediate entertainment. Adolescence is also a complicated time where so many things are competing for your attention: interpersonal relationships, school, work, sports and more.
Maybe it is natural to outgrow the deep commitment to reading we had as children. For many years, that is what I told myself when I read two or three books a year. I was simply too busy to stop and pick up a book for fun. The truth of the matter is that many of us have no desire to read, and why would we with all the quick and easy distractions around us?
Not only are there easier and more accessible forms of entertainment to be found in many other venues, but years of schooling have also made me view reading as a chore instead of an enjoyable act.
As we drift away from daily reading in our adolescence, school seems to reinforce the sentiment that reading is not meant to be fun. We are assigned pages and pages of readings we would otherwise never have chosen to do on subjects we could not care less about. By the time one has finished reading what is actually required, there truly is no room left in our attention span for reading things we might actually want to read.
While we cannot get away from assignments or quit social media altogether, I think an answer can be found somewhere in between these two options. These days, reading is not an instinct, and if we want to take up the practice, we must be intentional with our time and carve out space in our day for reading until it becomes an ingrained habit.
Instead of gravitating toward my phone, I hope to limit screen time and read a book before bedtime or when I first wake up and find entertainment in written stories instead of posts.
Emily Zhivotovski is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in cell biology and neuroscience and minoring in health and society. Her column, "Are You Thinking what I am Thinking," runs on alternate Wednesdays.
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