“When I look back, I am so impressed again with the life-giving power of literature. If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of myself in the world, I would do that again by reading, just as I did when I was young.”– Maya Angelou ( American memoirist & Poet)
There are times when I feel, being born in the 90’s was a blessing in disguise for many of us.
What’s it about the 90s that’s a blessing, you may wonder!
Back then, as children, we did not have so much exposure to the digital world as it is today. The 90’s generation, as school students, had habits quite different from the current generation school kids.
While both generations have spent a good amount of time outdoors doing physical activities like playing group games including basketball, cricket or swimming, the 90s generation were probably having a lot more of face-to-face interactions, spending good time meeting friends in person rather than on chats.
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Likewise, while indoors, the 90s generation would spend most of their free time playing board games or in physical reading with story books, comics etc.
Why am I bringing up the topic of the 90’s generation and their habits?
It started with a conversation I was having with a group of friends, about our age group and the kids of today’s generation. One big change that has happened after the 90s generation is the increased use of mobile phones and tablets.
In those days, till as recently as 2005, we were considered too young to have a phone of our own, at the age of 10 -15 years. We would borrow our parents’ or older siblings’ phone if we really needed to use one. And there wasn’t much of social media/online content to get fixated upon.
Specifically, what struck me is that a big change after that time is the drop in physical reading culture –both, for us of the 90s generation who are now in their 30s ; and for the later generation who are still in their teens now.
Today’s school going generation have become so used to gadgets, looking at the phone or tablet screen, watching social media videos and reels; or playing online games, the moment they want to turn away from their studies. So, many of them are not even initiated effectively into physical book reading.
Meanwhile, we the 90s generation, now in our thirties, have also moved more and more towards online content. But when we had the conversation recently, it was a time to take that pause and think.
Physical Reading – why it is a good habit.
Compared to the video format, book reading makes us keep the focus on the subject matter, go into depth and truly gain more knowledge.
It also helps build our attention span, since there is no other distraction when the eyes are on the book and engrossed. Today’s generations’ attention span has reduced significantly because of the fast-paced online activities.
So is the case with our generation. As we get caught up on our phones, we are also losing our attention span and not going into depth on subjects that matter.
Physical reading is not only important from a knowledge point of view but also gives us depth of language, and hence that much more power to communicate with others.
Once the book reading habit forms, it continues and can go on through out one’s life. The book becomes like our companion. It helps us in keeping our free time engaged for some good, rather than wasting it looking at a phone screen aimlessly.
Here is an example of physical reading habit, which I would like to share –
My grandfather is 92 years of age; he is a very simple and humble man.
He doesn’t like too much of fanfare, likes to live the simple life. All his life wherever he lived, be it in Delhi or now in Bangalore, he has been an avid reader, be it books, magazines or newspapers.
When he comes to our place we get 3 newspapers, Times of India, Economic Times and the Hindu. He reads all the three papers, through the whole day. It’s like a full 3 course meal for him.
He reads word to word and it feels like he doesn’t even blink an eye lid!
A man of that age, we would assume, would like to take a lot of rest and sleep off for a large part of the day, but he is just the opposite. He is as active and alert, as anyone even one-third his age.
He has good knowledge of current events and awareness about major changes happening even in the tech space, that affect the common man; and participates in conversations with full gusto.
It shows that thanks to his reading habit, he feels connected with the world around; while the mind stays focused and thus feels good and at peace. This in turn has a visible positive effect on the body and overall health.
So, isn’t this inspiring and encouraging to build a physical reading habit?
Reading for Personal Development in today’s environment
Another important contribution of reading is towards improving our Personal Growth and Development.
It has, what I would like to call, a 3-in-1 combo effect for long term personal development –
- The depth of information on any subject we wish to know more about; while also improving our language vocabulary.
- In an era of loads of public interaction at offline or online events, building subject matter expertise enables one to speak with conviction at panel discussions etc where the audience gets impacted with better quality insights on the topic.
- The above two points enable build one’s own personal brand, be it online or offline, which is becoming a very important asset in today’s communication overloaded environment.
Why can’t we renew the old habit of physical reading in our lives today?
Irrespective of age and howsoever busy we may be due to our work schedules, we can surely take that little time out every day and pick up that one book or any reading material which interest us and start reading. It’s a habit which can be turned into passion.
To summarise –
- Reading a book provides much more knowledge as the subject matter is in-depth and more detailed and needs the reader’s full attention as compared to an online video.
- Physical reading is easier on the eyes, does not tire and strain while reading.
- Since the physical book is not on the phone, it has lesser distractions of notifications etc and maintains our focus on reading and understands the content.
- Physical reading of positive content as the last activity before sleeping helps sleep better at night. It brings a sense of calmness and peace after reading a chapter in a book.
- Reading and completing a book gives a nice sense of accomplishment and feels very satisfying.
- Once this habit builds, it can be caried throughout one’s life.
While these are the advantages of a physical book reading, it is of course true that the digital version or e-book also has its advantages.
The E-book’s main advantage is that the content is easily accessible as it is digital. Thanks to the internet we have plenty of choice of what we want to read; and when and where we want to buy it.
But, between the two, the physical book definitely provides the relief, peace and solace far better, is my view. Besides, it helps build and sustain our ability to focus on one issue at a time. The e-book on the other hand provides the disadvantage of our getting disoriented periodically, by calls, messages or notifications on the phone, as we try to focus on our reading.
So shorter content works well for online reading, while in depth reading works better with physical books.
While I am running an online platform with loads of short length reading matter and am a film maker with short videos online, I do see the need to strike the balance between screen time and paper books/journals, as it helps me with more knowledge while helping remain calm and have a clear focus on the tasks at hand.
The balance also helps me in thinking clearly and not making decisions in haste.
I hope this article inspires you to also work towards a balance between physical reading and online content. Please do share your views in the comments below.
I end with a beautiful quote from Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman – an English writer.
“We don’t need a list of rights and wrongs, tables of dos and don’ts: We need books, time, and silence. Thou shalt not is soon forgotten, but Once upon a time lasts forever.” – Philip Pullman
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