The declining book culture
By: Syed Mustafa Ahmad
It is a fact that in the age of the Internet, the book reading culture is on decline in Kashmir now. However, it is also a fact that before the advent of the Internet in the Valley, a majority of people didn’t have inclination towards reading books.
A minority of people were voracious readers, thanks to outside exposure they had got. In Kashmir, there are diverse opinions regarding the decline in book reading culture after the introduction of the Internet in our lives. But the common thread among all the differing views is that the Internet has affected the book reading culture in many ways. It has left both positive as well as negative impacts.
It is a universally-accepted fact that every invention or discovery brings both positive and negative things with it. Same is the case with the Internet. If it has revolutionized and globalized our lives, it has adversely affected our lives, particularly in case of book reading culture.
Yes, the e-learning and the PDFs are omnipresent, however, the smell of the books and the delight of through the pages, is gone. In this piece of write up, let us see how the Internet has affected the book reading culture in our lives.
The first is people don’t buy books. Now, people believe that all the libraries of the world are just a click away. Why to carry the extra load of books on/over the already burdened shoulders?
In the cities, only book shops wear deserted looks, while other shops are flooded with people. On the carts, books are sold on high discounts. However, there are no book lovers to check them. The book seller, at the top of his voice, draws the attention of the passers-by to buy these, but customers are busy in their world.
The second is the diminishing presence of libraries. Once upon a time, my friends and I had the competition of having a charming library, with world class books. However, today, this is a gone thing.
Barring few, no one is interested in setting up his or her library. The rectangular smartphones have taken the place of the giant libraries. Soft copies are found in place of the hard copies that used to dot the rooms of the houses.
The third is the digitization of education. Virtual classrooms have made it possible to copy-paste everything from the Internet. There is no need to open a book and write from it. The Internet has made it possible to simply copy the required material and paste accordingly. In this way, the primary sources have lost their worth. No one is bothered to look at the primary sources and cite the examples from it.
The fourth is deteriorating standard of books. Some writers have been bought by the different institutions for their vested interests. In other words, writers and authors have sold their conscience for petty gains. For the sake of job or publicity, writers have deliberately overlooked the miseries of a common man.
They write what their masters want them to write. Now, the world is grappling with poverty, climate change, wars, mental disorders, drugs, human trafficking, prostitution, fake medicines, etc., while the books talk about romance and the supernatural things. This paradox acts as a barrier in reading these.
In order to develop fully, we must revert back to the book reading culture. Yes, the Internet has given access to the inaccessible books. However, the taste lies in reading books. The smell and the delight while handling the books is sweet. PDFs and e-libraries can never take the place of hard-cover books.
Before the age of the Internet, books dominated the world. We had produced marvelous brains who were voracious reader of books. The real taste of learning lies in reading books. It takes us to the world of imagination and critical thinking.
