Importance Of Reading As A Hobby

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The famous journalist and writer Ernest Hemingway once said, ‘There is no friend as loyal as a book’. This is true as reading is a part of everyday life. It spreads ideas through many people and enables effective communication. Alternatively, it is also a pastime for people as they could read stories. Some key terms to take note of in the question are ‘reading’, ‘pastime’ and ‘new media’. ‘Reading’ in this essay is about sustained reading such as novels and literary works. ‘Pastime’ means that it is a hobby and that it is done for enjoyment. ‘New media’ refers to modern technology such as computers and the Internet. To say that reading is no longer prioritized as a hobby due to the rise of new media is wrong, as firstly, publishing firms …show more content…

If reading were no longer important, book publishers such as Pearson and Thomson Reuters would no longer exist. However, they still do. In fact in 2012, Scholastic Press made $2,148 million USD in revenue. Genres published range from fantasy to history. In fact, publishing firms have used new media as a platform to further gain revenue and presence in society. ‘One sector of the publishing industry that’s alive and well, it’s e-books’ (McKinney ‘Book revenues are up’). According to PEW Internet Research Centre, the percentage of 16-year-old Americans who have read an e-book rose from 16% in 2011 to 23%. Besides ownership, the sales of e-books have also shown tremendous proliferate. Kindle ‘may be earning between $265 million to $530 million a year’ (Trefis Team Estimating Kindle Book-Sales) This shows that reading is still relevant as companies such as Kindle and Scholastic make a huge profit from book sales. This shows the demand for books are still great with many people reading them. Therefore, reading as a pastime is still …show more content…

Today’s new media has overshadowed reading and making it unimportant for many as it provides a greater and faster stimulus than reading. Stimulus is a thing that evokes activity or energy in a person. By providing a greater stimulus, new media such as video games or movies could be seen as more entertaining as a person is left with more energy afterwards. In an article written by parenting coach, Gloria DeGaetano, she stated that ‘The more violent the images of the video game, the increased arousal levels of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) that excite and entice kids to keep playing’ (Video Game Stimulation and the Growing Brain). This phenomenon is called ‘Stimulus addiction’. Children start out with video games with low-intensity. Once the child builds up tolerance for that level of violence, he begins to seek out more violent video games to keep him entertained. This addiction to viedo games could also be seen in adults. In a research done by Joe Hilgard, a psychology researcher in the University of Missouri says that video games could act as a form escapism for adults to turn to when their life gets stressful. Social interactions formed online and in game achievements are other factors, which makes adults addicted to video games. So how are books less stimulating than video games? One reason is

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