When given the chance to not do school work, what do most of us reach for? The T.V? Phone? But what about a good book? Because of social media, many of us aren’t doing one of the oldest pastimes: reading. I hardly see people reading anymore. Instead, they resort to watching the book-turned-movie, and missing the best parts of the story, or they choose to stalk Instagram profiles, when there is an endless stack of books waiting to be read.

      In school, when we are assigned to read, I’ve seen many of my friends use Sparknotes, and any other shortcut to get out of actually reading. But why? Why as this generation stepped away from what was once a beloved pastime?

I have always considered myself a reader, and I’m tired of listening to people degrading books. “They’re boring” or “I don’t like it” are among the endless comments I hear. Even when I take out a book, my classmates will give me weird looks or question why I choose to read. I think teenagers don’t read anymore because it has become something they are either forced to do, or because they don’t care enough to make time for it.

I mean, I know there are some people who have tried reading, and just don’t possess the attention span long enough to finish. Many of my friends always tell me how they can only get through the first chapter before they lose interest. I’ve tried to give recommendations, but they still never seem interested. Then there are those who read the school books, and just don’t care enough to read outside of school. There are always factors that can keep us from reading; and I think the biggest one is that we think it’s a waste of time. With all the books made into movies, why not take only an hour or two and watch the movie, instead of maybe a week or two and read the book? In my opinion, the movies always leave out the best parts, and sometimes even ruin the book. Now I’m not anti-movie, because I still enjoy movies just as much as the next person, but the difference is I will always choose the book over the movie. “The Hunger Games,” for example, was a series I both read and saw. I enjoyed all the movies, but not as much as the books. The movies left out parts of the books that may not have been necessary for the film, but were important when I read the story.

Reading is like an escape.  A book is meant to make you feel so many things at once, connect with characters, question your thoughts, and give you time to be free of your own life and live someone else’s. Now, some might say that you can get the same feeling from a movie, but a movie takes away your imagination. When I read a book, I like to decide who the characters are, and make up my own setting for the story. I connect to it better this way. When I read, I can become so attached to a story, that when it ends, I’m either crying, yelling, or just sitting extremely quiet so I can gather my thoughts. Yes, I get these feelings after a movie too, but because reading can be a slower process than a movie, the aftermath is that much greater.

If everyone took the time to read, and shut off their phones, or turned off the movie, they would realize that reading isn’t so bad. It may take more time, and may not be as easy, but with the emotional reaction you’ll have, and the connection to the characters you’ll build, finishing the book will feel so much better than finishing the movie. So next time you find yourself looking for something to do, or lazily stalking Instagram and Twitter, pick up a book, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy.