Death of Reading, Part II
by Shafeeq Ahmed

Continued from last month's Part I of the essay.


INTERACTIVE ART VS. PASSIVE ENTERTAINMENT

Once an interactive form of art that requires some level of involvement from the participant, reading has been
displaced by a penchant for passive entertainment. Whether involvement is defined as reading written words on a
page, or as mentally dwelling upon the meaning behind a work of art and its implications, the art enthusiast was 
once integral to the appreciation of artistic works.

The Active Reader has been transformed into the Passive Observer, as the Novel and the Short Story have been 
replaced by the Feature Length Film; Poetry nowadays can only be digested as song lyrics; and the written (and 
once also read) Play has been re-appropriated into Screenplays for televised melodramas and situational comedies.


PERSONAL VS. SECOND-HAND IMAGINATION

A resounding example of the disadvantages posed by such substitutions is the disappoint readers feel when they 
watch a movie that is based on a book they have read prior to seeing the film. This dissatisfaction is the 
psychological conflict that takes place when our imagined expectations are in stark contrast to the director's 
vision of the same story. 

The discord between the story in your mind and what's on the screen is the difference between your own 
imagination at work and a second-hand imagination that someone has provided for you. An inherited vision is by 
its nature unsatisfactory to us, because it goes against our human nature to accept someone else's fiction when ours 
better suits our own tastes and preferences.


GENERATION OF TECHNOLOGY & HASTE

My generation must bear some responsibility for pushing us towards an antiquated view of reading, as we were the 
first to almost completely be raised in front of a television, and we helped bring the Information Revolution via the 
Internet to America's doorstep. However, we are already suffering the backlash of hastily integrating technology 
into our daily lives. 

Where television brought our attention span to its knees, the Internet has knocked it right off its feet, and left it 
lying on its back writhing. We have massive amounts of information at our fingertips, but at the sacrifice of 
continued interest in any one single topic. 

We must also account for the Internet's delivery medium: the Computer Screen. Even the most voracious readers 
find difficulty in reading for long periods of time off a glowing screen. Short articles, or even poetry, seem much 
longer when uncomfortably perched on your chair, scrolling down a screen versus flipping pages from a relaxed 
position. 


EXERCISING THE MIND

One proven cure for shortened attention spans is, not surprisingly, exercising your mind by reading on a regular 
basis. Although this seems an oversimplified solution, it actually does work, as we can learn from the students in 
our society. Students can digest large amounts of information from their textbooks and class notes, without 
unnecessarily losing focus like their non-student counterparts. Like any other muscle in your body, the brain must 
be continuously challenged to grow and remain strong. Like the body, once the brain metaphorically atrophies, the 
ability to read for a sustained period of time and maintain concentration becomes a greater challenge to overcome. 

This point is also reinforced by the recent trend of children tearing through large tombs of fantasy fiction that are 
at the top of best-selling book lists. Children, and students in general, seem to be able to absorb hundreds and 
hundreds of pages of fiction, while also balancing their assigned reading exercises, since their minds have 
remained sharp and welcome to new information. 


FOR THE CHILDREN

So, dear reader, as you and I pass down positive morals, values, and habits onto the next generation, let's also 
make a commitment to expose our children to the rewards of reading. Let's show them some of the magic we 
experience, and save it from the threat of extinction. If for no other reason, encourage your children to read for 
leisure so they can know the smell of a newly printed book and the sound of a book's binding cracking for the first 
time. With this little effort, hopefully we can raise better champions of this dying art.