My boyfriend’s sister is 9-years-old. I was talking to her recently when she asked me what I was doing. I told her I should have been writing, but I was playing on my phone instead. She responded with an “Oh, yeah, that’s what I would be doing too.” She’s still in grade school, so I try to push literary stuff on her pretty heavily because I want her to have an interest in being a better writer. Writing can get you places in your adult years.
I told her reading or writing would be better than playing on my phone, and she replied, “Nah. Reading is only better with hot chocolate.” She is wise beyond her years.
How is it that children these days don’t have an appreciation for literature like many of us once did? Alternatively, how is it that the same lot of us who once held that appreciation don’t anymore? The short answer: the internet. Smartphones are taking over the world. Even I, an English major, have fallen victim to the bait. Somehow, quite suddenly, it became so much easier to pick up a phone than a book.
How do we change that? Set goals for ourselves. Give ourselves incentives to read and to write. Read just fifteen pages before going to bed at night. Make it a habit.
We press that it’s important for children to read, but it’s just as important for adults to read as well. Not only does reading make one smarter, it also makes for better writers and speakers. As soon as we get out of school, oftentimes, we ditch the old textbooks and move on to video games, Netflix, or what have you, but it’s so necessary to continue reading even when it’s not as much fun as our many other options.
It doesn’t matter what you read or how — just as long as you’re reading something. You could be reading Young Adult fiction on audio for all anyone cares. Reading is the gateway to the universe and in today’s age that truth has been lost to so many. So, make yourself a cup of hot chocolate and pick up a book — any book. You’ll be happier for it.