Reading for enjoyment is dying
Whenever I tell someone I read for pleasure they are genuinely shocked. I read over 12 books a year, which is not a lot, but most people are surprised that someone my age has the time and enjoys reading.
There are many reasons why people dislike reading, one of the most prominent being that they have not found the right book for them. There is an abundance of genres and not every genre is for every person. English class does not provide students the opportunity to find genres that they are passionate about. For reference, my favorite genres are romance, mystery, and psychological thriller, however, none of these genres have ever been read in my English classes. Without exploring these genres on my own, I would have never found my love for reading. I believe this is where most people my age begin to dislike reading. I think the books we read in English are very important, but I also think it is important for these classes to expose us to a number of genres and books that we can enjoy in our free time.
Another reason people do not enjoy reading is because of our generation’s attention spans, with the abundant amount of short forms and visual content we consume, our attention spans are very short. Because of apps like Tikok or Instagram, I find myself bored with something if it is more than two minutes long. This makes reading a book extremely challenging, especially when you first start one. One of the reasons I did not like to read before seventh grade was because I could never start or get into a book. The first few chapters are always boring or introductory, but it is worth powering through the mundane details to get to the juicy bits.
Additionally, people dislike reading because there is no proposed “reward”. Nowadays, students and adults do things because they get something out of it. Rather than coming to school to learn, students come to school to get a good grade. When a teacher says an assignment is not worth any points, most kids will not complete it. Reading works the same way, as people only read because they have to. With that, I think it is important to realize that what you can get out of reading is the feeling of accomplishment after finishing a book. Something I do to increase this feeling is track my progress. At the beginning of the year I set a goal to read “x” amount of books. Further, I can even track my progress on an individual book. I do all of this on an app called Good Reads. The dopamine and feeling I get when I finish a book and review it is like no other.
Moreover, a huge problem with people reading is literacy rates. The average reading level for people living in the U.S. is a seventh to eighth grade level. This seriously limits the amount of books that people can enjoy. In order to explore the genre of books one likes, one needs to be able to understand what they are reading. To achieve reading at more difficult levels, people simply need to read more often, pay attention in their English classes and prioritize reading.
Furthermore, reading for enjoyment is foreign for people, especially those who are not currently in school. Trying something new and sticking with it is extremely hard for anyone. Some people claim they do not have the time or energy to read. Reading is truly hard to start implementing into your daily life, particularly if you are not used to it. Although trying something new is difficult, I believe the benefits of reading outweigh the costs.
