Opinion: Reading skill has decreased a lot in Indians over the last decades, we should strive to read more

There is no doubt that reading skill has decreased tremendously over the last few decades, almost anyone can sense it and those of us who were raised in the 90s can clearly see the diminishing intellectual prowess and attitudes everywhere which is mostly caused by a lack of in-depth reading.

Readily available and spoon-fed information through Social Media, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Youtube, etc. has turned a whole generation into an echo-chamber. Nobody wants to explore anything on their own, it seems. Conforming to someone else's views (whatever it may be) is so much easier and "feels" as if you've personally done the research and attained that knowledge.

I feel that wherever I go, the world is filled with only robots everywhere, all having similar belief-systems or ideologies with a very shallow understanding of even what they believe in. Believe it or not, the thirst for attainment of knowledge or enlightenment seems to have fizzled out, we live solely to fulfill our materialistic desires and conform to these favorite factions or tribes about which we have a very shallow understanding if at all.

Ask yourself, when did you last read a book, be it a fiction or non-fiction, be it an intellectually fulfilling work like Discovery of India or Think and Grow Rich, or be it an epic like Ramayana or Mahabharata. The more you read, your understanding about the world you live in improves tremendously and you are able to reflect on it. Your knowledge won't be colored by what the media is trying hard to spoon-feed you with.

India needs well-informed, intellectual, knowledgeable and thinking individuals more and more right now than ever before. Besides, its not just that, reading has many other benefits too. For one, reading provides structure and organization to your perception of life and thus helps you with writing too. You can never be a good writer without being a good reader first. And good writing doesn't mean that you'll have to end up as the next JK Rowling or Stephen King. Writing an essay, article or blog post is also an admirable achievement. What the average dude thinks and feels about this country is very important that's why I think more and more people should start blogging too.