Growing impact of television and fall of reading habits

Television has become an integral part of one’s life. Television provides with entertainment and important information. After day’s work, people switch television to watch the soaps of their interest. Moreover, existence of large number of channels provides with many options to choose from. People prefer television as a mode of relaxation and pleasure rather than conversing with family members.

Television has also affected the reading habits of children and adults.
Since ancient time, books have been considered to be the supreme collection of knowledge. Books enrich minds with thoughts and vocabulary. They provide insight on every topic which further forces the mind to create its own philosophies. The stories in books provide great morals for kids, teach them proper behaviour and facilitate the building of their characters. However, as the information becomes more accessible through radio and television, the habit of reading books is declining. The information available through television is easy to process as the mind has to do lesser work. People have substituted reading books with watching television. However, the advantages of reading books have gone unnoticed in the fast paced transformation.

No matter how easy is the accessibility of information, the television can only provide the surface story. The reasons and views of people behind the scene can only be known via books. Books analyse each and every step in the process. It establishes the reasons in detail, linking it with the ideology of the perpetuators. General purpose reading helps in formulating the opinions and philosophies. Reading books help a person in intellectual development.

Benefits of reading over television viewing can be understood by watching an event and then reading about it. The written description is much more detailed than the one telecasted. It might also seem to be normal. However, if a person who lacks reading habit would try to describe the event only after watching it, the description will not be complete. The problem faced here is the absence of words while explaining the event. Though, the snapshots of the events will be running in the minds yet the words will not be penned down. The reason is the abstinence of reading books. While reading books, mind creates images of the events being read and relates important words with it, thus, memorising the words in relation with the pictures that it created.

Reading books is a nourishing activity. It needs to be flourished since the childhood for the development of intellect. Otherwise, heavy doses of vitamins and minerals will be needed as human advances through various phases of life.