We all smelled the new book before we went to read, right? When we touch the book and read a book, that feeling is fantastic. We all know how much we are immersed in technology these days. Technology decreased our attention span, and more people don’t read books nowadays. As our brains adapted to this technology, reading became a problem. Not only books but also newspapers, magazines, etc. Due to the increase in technology, we have been using the internet and social media all day for no reason. We are wasting tremendous time. Also, this digital era made us scan content online. So, we lost the habit of reading. E-books are available nowadays. Even though e-books help a lot, nothing can be compared to a hard copy. In that only, the depth of reading can be achieved. The print text of the book, the physical presence of the book, and its smell cannot be replaced by e-books. Internet browsing also affects our thinking ability. Let’s see the top 10 facts about how technology ruined the literary world:
1. Distractions
We all know how technology has become a significant distraction. You may think otherwise, how good technology is. Yes, I agree that technology is helpful in various matters. But still, we must understand the ill effects of it. Internet and social media are something that we can’t live without. So, while scrolling through those, we attain a short attention span, which is the primary reason most can’t read for a long time.
2. Text-speak
In social media, we started to use a language called ‘text-speak’ to communicate with others. In that, we use short-form language rather than the usual one. For example, instead of saying good night, we use gud ni8. Pretty much for most words, we use short forms like this. Thus, using this in social media, our academics are also affected. We began to use this language in our academic writing, which is not a good sign. And we started to forget the actual spelling and grammar. Thus, we need to stop using that to retrieve literature.
3. Lack Of Attention On The Screen
Everyone uses technology nowadays, right? Whenever we need any information about something, we just go to the internet and browse it. Even nowadays, learning also through digital devices. While reading, our brain not only uses sight but also uses the sense of touch. It’s different when reading something through a book than in front of a screen. While physically reading a book, your engagement won’t decrease. But in front of a screen, your attention and involvement are deficient.
4. Shallower Comprehension
In printed books, you spend separate time reading. And think through it while reading. But in digital, you will navigate from one website to another to learn about something. While doing that, you don’t think through what you’re reading. All you search for is a website where you will find the content summary you need. You can’t read long passages digitally. Thus, it kills your thinking ability and reading capacity. Your engagement in the subject decreased through online reading.
5. Addiction
Try to remove the mobile from a teenager. Impossible, right? Not only teenagers but everyone is also addicted to technology. This is a severe problem. We started to scroll through content on social media and waste time on it. It makes us lazy, and we want to spend time doing nothing. Rather than reading books or newspapers, we like to see content on social media. This reduces in-depth reading and concentration.
6. Self-sabotage
With the increase in technology, everyone has started to live around it or, to be appropriate – can’t live without it. Using social media makes us feel inferior and decreases our self-esteem. Because we started to compare our lives with others and feel bad about our inability to be like them. Using technology is like self-sabotage. Technology destroyed reading habits. Reading books also helps us to improve our character and knowledge. Moreover, your imagination and creativity will increase while reading.
7. Scanning
Nowadays, we read everything online. Be it celebrity gossip or academic notes. When we read online, we read fast. So, compared to reading on paper, digital reading is quicker, as we scan it. You may think reading faster is a good thing. But the problem is, while reading faster we won’t understand the content well. So, rather than understanding the content, we seem to complete it first. That won’t help while preparing for a test or an exam, will it?
8. Where Was I?
While reading something digital, you might have struggled to know where you were reading. While scrolling through content on websites, your eyes keep on moving from one content to another faster. As printed books won’t move, while reading something, you know exactly where you are reading. Also, for exams, if you studied through printed books, you might be able to tell the side and location of the text you learned. Thus, it improves your memory and concentration, which you lack in digital reading.
9. Multitasking
In this digital era, multitasking has become a common thing. It involves constant switching from one task to another, it becomes an addiction. This multitasking disrupts our brain and focus. It also affects our deep thinking. You may think by multitasking, we do things faster and save time. But it’s the opposite; you waste time by not doing a single task effectively.
10. Spending Time Unnecessarily
Technology makes us waste time on unnecessary things. You are spending time on the internet and social media uselessly. Technology creates addiction, and we are still trying to get away from it. If we didn’t waste our time on technology, we would have spent time reading books, newspapers, magazines, etc. So, we must make efforts to revive literature in this digital era.
