What
would your life – and the world – look like if you or it gave up reading books
for a year?
This
question was born out of an article I just read in The Washington Post, written by a woman who followed through on a
2016 New Year’s resolution to abstain from television viewing for a year.
In
the case of TV, the common belief is that the “idiot box” is a time suck and
doesn’t offer enough quality fare to justify the investment of time and cable
fees. Watching hours of television give
us couch potatoes who are less healthy due to the time spent sitting like slugs
and likely snacking on junk. Couldn’t
those daily hours be put to better use, such as going out and living life
rather than watching it unfold from a screen?
I
suppose the same argument can be made about the Internet and social media. Is the act of viewing virulent videos and
surfing Ebay the greatest use of our time?
Of
course, TV or the Internet are not all bad.
In fact, one can find useful things online or on television, and in
moderation, either or both will help us to either be educated or
entertained. But what about book reading
– could and should one swear off of it for an entire year?
Books,
typically, are healthy for us. There are
so many benefits that come from the engagement of reading, from stimulating our
minds, stirring our souls, and giving us interesting things to ponder, consume,
or even laugh at. Studies show reading
books extends one’s life, and helps delay the onset of Alzheimer’s.
But
could reading books have a negative impact on us? It all depends, like anything else, on the
quality of what we consume. Are the
books filled with negative images, distorted viewpoints, even errors and a misinterpretation
of facts? Are these books mainly fiction
or non-fiction? Are they well-written
and properly edited? Do they help to
inspire, inform, enlighten, or entertain us – or do they mold us into hateful,
depressed, and misguided individuals?
Time
is a factor too. Books supplement our
lives, but how much time should they be allotted daily? No matter how wonderful it is to read books
– and it is glorious – there should be a reasonable limit set. Why, you ask, would we limit ourselves from
such pleasure?
We
can’t let reading books – or watching TV or surfing the Internet – replace the
social and productive activities that a healthy and balanced life may
require. Nothing should become an obsession or performed disproportionately – including work, sex, eating,
drinking, exercising, and just about any activity.
I
more easily understand someone who may give up TV for a year than I could
someone who would even think of giving up books for 365 long days. I would hope
the opposite would happen, that non-readers would make a resolution to commit
to reading more books.
The
world would be a much, much better place with more book readers, but too much
of a good thing can be bad. Even book
readers needs to get reasonable limits for their passionate pastime. But give up books for a year? They should make a TV show about that.
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Brian
Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and
not that of his employer. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email
him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in
the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog 2017©. Born and
raised in Brooklyn, now resides in Westchester. Named one of the best book
marketing blogs by Book Baby http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs
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