I have begun to notice something about the generations following my own. Books are becoming more and more unused. I remember when I was in elementary, middle — even high school — a time when reading was a common past time for many of my fellow students. Now it seems as if books are considered irrelevant when it comes to reading for pleasure. Of course, reading is still required in the school curriculum, but I don't see the same excitement for reading that was present when I was younger.

I understand that we didn't have the huge amount of social media that is present today until I was in high school. Of course now that is a huge source of entertainment. We also have Netflix, Vudu, Hulu, etc. that make watching movies and tv effortless. I am guilty of staying on Twitter a little too much and choosing a bing Netflix session over reading, but I try to find my way back to my nose in a book every once in a while.

I'm not preaching by any means. I know a lot of people that read this will laugh at how I am trying to act like an older person. That's not the case either. I am young, and I enjoy doing the young people things of today, but I don't want the art of reading to fall through the cracks.

Books are so important. There is so much that can be gained from reading that gets lost in the transition to a movie screen. I've compared countless movies to their books and the books win every time. Improved vocabulary, eloquence in speech, and other valuable tools can be gained from reading.

The little bit of reading that is left is reading statuses, updates, or at best, reading from a tablet screen.

I just wish people could truly appreciate it as much as I do, and as much as some older people do. It is so important that we don't move to a generation that can't appreciate the wear of an old book or the smell of a new one. The real tangible feel of a book in your hands, being so into the story that your intense grip leaves wear on the pages, your tears drop in the margins, leaving you with a weak spine from the re-reads. That's a feeling that no movie, TV show, or YouTube video will ever give you.

So to all of you non-readers, the ones that think reading is a chore and the ones who find it boring I say this. Please, do me a favor and do yourself a favor — give reading another try.