Reading is becoming a lost art in today’s world. Instead of reading, children are playing on iPads. Instead of reading, teens are texting. Instead of reading, adults are binge-watching Netflix seasons of "Grey’s Anatomy," "Orange Is the New Black," "Scandal," etc. The point is, reading is becoming nonexistent.

Reading as a child was one of those things that pained me. I will be the first to admit that I hated reading in elementary school. Sure, I loved children’s books when I was little, but when it came to reading “big-kid books” I would shy away from them any chance I got. Unless it was "The Magic Treehouse" collection, I was uninterested.

When the end of middle school came along, however, I began to enjoy reading. Now that I have found books I love and am not forced to annotate anything (apologies to my IB teachers in high school!), I love reading. It is through finding a love for reading that I am discovering how much of a lost art reading is becoming. I was lucky. I had the opportunity to discover a love for reading. Children today are oftentimes faced with a book or with an iPad. If I had been given a book or an iPad you can bet that I would have chosen the iPad. The value of reading is becoming nonexistent and diminished.

So why do I write this article? I myself hated reading as a child. Unless I found that perfect book I didn’t want to hear anything about reading. And even then, I would have rather been outside playing with my friends. I write this article because reading has been a saving spot in my life. Reading has a value so special to me that I can’t even imagine the days that I didn’t enjoy picking up a book and reading for hours.

Reading gives us the opportunity to escape reality. Sure, this might sound extremely cliched, but it is also extremely accurate. Picking up a book lets us imagine a world without fear. A world without pain and suffering. Reading allows us to escape to a world filled with someone else’s drama and humor. When in the toughest times of our lives, when in transitions that send us into the unknown, when in times of chaos and confusion, reading lets us escape it all. We can dive so deep into another world that coming out of that world seems impossible.

Although books are being read less and less and TV is being watched more and more, I hope you will still find time to read. Pick up a hard paper book and read. Learn something new. Have an adventure that you never thought you’d have. There is nothing quite like the magic of reading to set our imaginations off. To discover new ideas. To learn something magnificent. So go read a book and enjoy the magic of reading.