Humans are great at telling stories. It’s why we’ve been telling them since the beginning of time. There’s nothing more rewarding than hearing a great tale about a brave hero, or a tragic romance. Nothing better than an introspective, modern drama or a catchy pop song. As humans evolved over time, so did the way they told stories.

In an era of internet comes a wave of instant media. I can go to YouTube right now and watch a short documentary about the diabetes crisis in Mexico. I can open Twitter and read a quick thread about someone’s rough day at work. I can even go to my Tik Tok app and scroll mindlessly through my For You Page for hours to get five second seratonin boosts every once in 10-20 videos. Consuming media has never been more easier than it is today.

So why should we bother reading books?

To Read or Not To Read

Reading takes work. A lot of work. The average book has about 300 pages. Depending on how fast you can read, it could take more than 10 hours of your time to finish a book. To read a book is to work for your gratification, something the modern audience is not used to in this era. Why would we make ourselves work to enjoy a story when someone already did the hard work for us and made a 2-hour feature film for us to mindlessly enjoy?

I’ll be honest with you: there’s no easy answer. It’s true; there’s a lot of risks to reading. I can’t tell you that the risks will be worth the reward, because maybe it won’t. I’ve read my fair share of books with horrible endings. Books that ended with a cliffhanger and never received a sequel. Books that are officially finished, but leave too many questions unanswered. And yet, I keep on reading. Why?

Well, I can ramble on about all the usual facts like how reading improves brain function and reduces stress, but I have a feeling you know these things already and have had statistics shoved down your throat a million times. If those didn’t inspire you then, they won’t affect you now. So instead, I’ll tell you why I like to read and why you might like it too.

Escapism

As I said before, storytelling is a basic human function and is practically ingrained in our DNA at this point. Think about the first time you read a book. It was probably with a parent or a loved one, reading a cute kid’s book about a plush rabbit coming to life (The Velveteen Rabbit is a classic!). As a kid, we were fascinated by stories of heroes and magic. Stories that caused us to believe in another world, many worlds that inspired inspired our imagination and creativity as children. So why does the fun have to stop there? Because we grew up? Boring. Who says adults can’t believe in magic too?

One thing I learned about becoming an “adult”: the world is a depressing place. As political tensions rise, as a pandemic sweeps across the globe, as children and women go missing, the world is not a fun place to be in right now and, therefore, we need to be able to escape sometimes. For some people it’s through shows or movies, for others it’s video games; for me, it’s books.

Escapism also helps in serious cases of boredom. The NPD BookScan recorded a 13.2 percent increase in printed book sales between the years 2020 and 2021. Once quarantine happened, we instantly had a shortage of video entertainment because of Covid restrictions. Hollywood was extremely affected by this pandemic and, by product, so were consumers who then flocked to written-form content when the cinemas were closed for months. When we were in quarantine, I too decided to pick up reading again and I have been reading (mostly) regularly ever since. I read, not only to escape reality for a moment, but also to feel like I was able to step out into the world again when, in real life, we couldn’t for a long time.

Of course, escapism is only healthy in regular doses. I’m not saying to go full Black Mirror on me and live most of your life in a fake world (I’m looking at you, Metaverse), but, let’s be real, it’s fun to imagine, right?

Why Should You Read?

This is a question that only you can answer for yourself. At the end of it all, only you can decide why you need to read. Escapism might not be the answer you need, so maybe you need to think of another motivation. To help you with this, I made you a list of questions:

• Do you need to escape reality for a moment?

• Are you stressed about work or school?

• Do you want to learn about an interesting topic?

• Do you need something to do on the weekends or during your free time?

• Do you need some life advice or self motivation?

• Are you in need of a hobby?

• Do you need a stimulating activity that increases your brain function?

• Is there a book your friend has been trying to get you to read for years?

• Do you have a favorite movie/show that is based on a book?

• Are you interested in learning about the lives of others?

• Have you been wanting to read a certain book for a while that you never got to?

• Do you want to start a business or learn how to balance your finances?

• Has it been over a year since you last read a book?

• Do you want to test your imagination?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, I highly suggest picking up a book. You don’t have to pick up an 800 page book or try to read a series with over 6 books in it, you can start however small or large you want. But I do challenge you to read an actual book, not a magazine or a short story on the internet. An actual book. I say this only because we all need to practice patience in our consumption of media, meaning we have to train ourselves to enjoy long-form content again, even if it takes us a longer time to finish it. Patience training is a helpful tactic that I think can help all of us in the long-run.

My goal with this series is, obviously, encouraging people to read for fun, but, more than that, I want to remind people what it means to read and how much easier books are accessible in our world today that many people may not know about or haven’t taken advantage of. So if you don’t know where to start, stay tuned for my next article about all the different ways you can access books!