One of the great tragedies of this age is that books are left behind, The trend of reading books is getting weaker day by day, Unprecedented advances in the field of information technology have driven the common man away from books. Friendship with the book was part of human nature, but it is more or less twenty-five years ago. From the invention of the printing press to the advent of the Internet, man has been accustomed to reading books. After the invention of radio and TV, the advent of film did not take man away from books. Social media has made it easier for the common man to connect with the rest of the world. There was a time when man was able to maintain a good relationship with the rest of the world through books and newspapers. Today’s man, using social media through his smart phone & other gadgets keeps on falling prey to the illusion that he has learned a lot. Thanks to the Internet, people stay in touch, but the problem is that a lot of unwanted and junk content is becoming a part of life. We are eager to see, hear or read a lot, but still all this is reaching us through smart phones and we are very much helpless in this matter. Book sales are currently at an all-time low. Book reading is still an enviable trend in developed societies as compared to backward and developing countries, but the fact is that book lovers are sadly declining there. Gone are the days when people in developed societies used to read books while traveling in buses and trains.
In Western societies, the tendency to talk during daily travel has never been before and still is, but yes! Books have been replaced by smart phones. People also prefer to watch or listen to books on mobile phones. Devices are also common that allow the book to be read digitally, but people are preferring audiobooks. Why has man’s friendship with the book weakened? This question has puzzled thinkers even in developed societies. It is a fact that with the advent of smartphones and the popularity of social media, a lot of content has become a part of our lives which, step by step, severely affects our anxiety. People who have loved books all their lives and still love reading books can tell you which books are the best and what we can get out of reading them. Those who have lived between books can tell us a lot about standard books in just a few minutes. The advice of those who are passionate about reading books is very useful in choosing books that suit their natural inclinations. Book reading is one of the few trends that play a major role in making quality life. There is a lot that can be taught to children, but what will be born in them in the form of friendship with the book will be something else. Make children book lovers, they will become a bit easier. With this they themselves will become authors someday…
(The author is a freelancer. Views are his own)
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