Fear is something that constantly hovers over our heads, never fading away. It is considered a big task these days to read books, newspapers, short stories, and poems for knowledge and awareness.
This is the consequence of modern times and their advancements. While technological advancements bring relief and convenience, they also affect something else in one way or another by replacing traditional practices. We think of moving on from archaic methods of learning and working to newer techniques that demand less time and consume little energy. But we forget the usefulness of some old habits and their benefits. With time, there are numerous changes in the living style, and the world is trying to become a better place, but the question is, “Is the world really moving towards betterment, or are we destroying our historical identity by giving space to modernism?”
With the invention of radio and television, they were seen as a threat to newspapers mainly. People feared that no one would read and only watch political talk shows on television and listen to news through radio. Watching things seems easier than perusing books and papers. These technological advancements make people lazy by creating shortcuts. However, things are never the same for everyone. Even when there was relief, people did not stop reading newspapers. Even still today, newspapers are read religiously and not relied upon as a direct means of bulletins.
After this, the internet took place and spread all around in no time like a virus. Everything became easily accessible, only a search away. There was no need to spend hours in the library finding appropriate books within your means; just type your query, search it, and get all relevant information regarding any topic. Hence, this also affected little because we still find numerous people in libraries studying books and reading literature.
Over time, generations have started to neglect literature for STEM. Arts and humanities are overlooked because they are not technical degrees and are apparently of no use. I have seen my parents telling me to read books from a very young age. My father used to say to me that books will teach me wisdom; no man can. This is something I realise now; that is why our elders put so much stress on reading. First, they are afraid of discontinuing reading; secondly, they believe books can be the best of all preachers. If we look, our parents did not have access to the Internet, and they invested a lot of time in reading books to gain knowledge. They want us to do the same by finding the right books to satisfy our curiosity, so we stay connected to our roots and do not make reading look boring.
Moving on to another area of people who think reading fiction is useless. People have this myth in their minds that fiction teaches nothing but gives illusions of a fairy world. This is wrong because, years ago, George Orwell, in his dystopian novel 1984, predicted what the world would look like in the future. We never thought about why Shakespeare is still taught in our educational institutes. The reason is that he had created versatile characters and situations that are still quite relatable in this era. We run to non-fiction in search of knowledge and wisdom but forget that each novel has philosophy, psychology, morality, as well as history. Only the way of explaining things is different. Literature actually depicts the social, political, and cultural norms of a time. The importance of literature, the taste of words, can never die. Aristotle, in his Poetics, while discussing the characteristics of a perfect tragedy, explains the importance of catharsis, as one needs to purge their emotions.
In addition, the rise of movies and seasons has posed a threat to reading. There are numerous screenplays based on books, making it easy for people to watch them rather than read. Whereas no criticism of movies, no screenplay can adapt the essence of a book as it is. The storyline, character development, plot, climax, and all the other factors are discussed in minute detail while writing. One of these has to be compromised when transforming into a drama.
Quite a while ago, I was reading research on how the attention span of our generation is dwindling due to social media. It further discussed why people have almost stopped reading books. The core cause was the availability of movies, etc, and people prefer to peruse their summaries just for the sake of the story. A counterargument was mentioned to defend those who still read books, newspapers, and articles with a keen eye to notice every little detail. This is what shows that literature, despite the advancements in time, is not dying.
We always try to keep safe what we love. Our elders pass on to us their valuables. This is not only about materials, but also their habits. If they say reading literature is good and healthy for our mind and soul, they say for a reason. Modernism has already taken over the world; technological advancements will never stop coming, so it is our responsibility to hold on to a few habits we never want to lose to time.