Between academics, extracurriculars and work, it gets much harder to participate in leisurely activities such as reading — college students know this all too well. In a world revolving around technology, reading books has become a long forgotten pastime. Rather than curling up with a good read, many college students shift toward other means for distraction, such as social media and television.
“I rarely ever read for pleasure anymore. I constantly feel like between work, school and anything else going on, I never have time to read. I keep telling myself that I will when I do have more time, but it just never happens. I need a really good book in order to set aside time for it,” Elizabeth Reyes, a senior, said.
According to a U.S. report in the Boston Globe, nearly half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 no longer read books for pleasure. When conducting a poll of how many students actually take the time to read for pleasure during leisurely hours, seven out of 10 students admitted to not even thinking of picking up a book on their time off of their studies.
“I think reading is obviously an individual thing, which is fine in high school when you come home after seeing your friends all day, but in college it's a way more social atmosphere,” said senior history major Thomas Colella.
“There's no separation of home and friends because they're all on campus with you. For me, as someone who read every night in high school, the toughest part of reading for pleasure in college is there's no time to just drop everything, including friends, and read.”
Technology has also contributed to the decline of enjoyable reading. According to the Boston Globe, people between the ages of 15 and 24 spend only seven minutes reading a day, compared to watching two to two and a half hours of TV a day.
“Through the increase of consumer technology, people pursue things like games and movies since it's much easier to comprehend and easier to catch the viewer’s attention, while reading a book makes the reader focus and imagine, more so than images in a movie,” said Oliver Francisco, a senior.
While reading books or novels for pleasure may be declining, some people are not quite ready to say goodbye to pleasure reading.
“Reading is something I enjoy," said Cece Vacca, a senior.
jross4@ramapo.edu
