this post was submitted on 26 Nov 2023
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People really over exaggerate the importance of reading because they're repeating memes from back when reading was the only way of getting information. All the people like Voltaire with cool quotes about books would be saying cool things about movies and documentaries if they lived now.
If you're in a phase of your life where reading appeals to you then do it, if you're not then don't beat yourself up about it there's endless great ways of getting a far richer version of whatever you were looking for - want to get lost in a world of imagination? Good video games are just as good as good books. Want to learn about new perspectives and distant lands? Why not deep dive into some tiktok rabbit holes - real people without that filter of having to be the sort of person to write and get their work published, anywhere in the world you can see every day dramas, struggles, successes, and stories.
I know people will be angry I said it but yes tiktok can be just like a good book when you explore it with an open mind, video games can be wonderfully compelling and really open up your imagination. Personally I wish I had time and the interests to do more of both, I'm still not halfway through bg3 and I brought it on release and haven't played anything else. I have listened to a few books in that time (mostly from librivox, great free audiobooks with so many classics and wonderful Victorian oddities) but that's not because I'm better or smarter than people who are drawn to other things but because it's a form of entrainment which works well for me.
So yeah if you want to read more then maybe get an audio book like the woodlanders by Thomas Hardy from librivox, put it on your headphones and go for a nice walk then when you're getting into the story you'll be drawn to keep listening while you do chores like cleaning, and if you're like me you'll find chores to do just to keep in the story.
A great thing about Victorian literature is you can listen to the rompiest penny dreadful like the mysteries of London (available on librivox) and it's got the entrainment of being trash but also it's a historical document so you're learning history from primary sources at the same time.
But if you want to learn instead about Tumblr's sold to one direction trope in a half hour video essay on YouTube then I genuinely think that's an equally valid use of your time (actually surprisingly interesting too, I think it was a strange aeons video)
While generally agreeing with you, I would just say that it's a very unjust and biased point of view to say that other media are richer than books.
They're just different media and forms of art. For example, while videos show you things with much more detail and games make you immerse in a constructed world, books give you more freedom to your imagination, which is an entirety different experience.
I wouldn't say that any of these experiences are better than the other, but just different, and different people will enjoy them differently.
Yes you're right, I really meant rich in other ways.
And yeah I don't think any are intrinsically better than the other, as the addage goes the best direction to head depends on where you start and where you're going. What might be best for me could be worst for someone else, that's one of the real next beauties and complexities of life.
Unless you believe reading comprehension and vocabulary is important.
And attention span.
I think attention span is like a muscle, you gotta use it or lose it. And so much of the world is engineered to erode our attention spans.
Thank you! I knew there are more benefits and that one was on the tip of my tongue. Reading makes your brain better in ways that some types of media probably make worse.