Week 12: Why Reading is an Absolute Necessity

Why Reading is an Absolute Necessity

Reading books has bad stigma and a negative connotation.

In middle and high school, it seemed like the general consensus was that reading was uncool and that bookworms were nerds. I distinctly remember in fifth grade participating in DEAR time: Drop Everything And Read. After lunch for fifteen minutes, we had to either read our library book for the week or another book we brought in from home.

Everyone hated DEAR time. Eleven-year olds don’t want to spend fifteen minutes reading, especially when they’re forced to do it. This sparks the resentment in reading, and it makes kids wonder why anyone would choose to read in their free time. Only an absolute nerd would do something as boring and tedious a task as reading.

So, for the next few years, everyone begins to resent reading. But then, around college, people begin not to care. Things that were lame and made someone a loser in high school are suddenly not so bad. If your neighbor wants to ride a scooter to class while carrying a wheel backpack, instead of making fun of him, you’re envious of his genius-ness—he’s getting to class quicker and doesn’t have to drag his textbooks around on his back, unlike you.

Likewise, when someone says they want to curl up and read a good book a hammock on a warm, summer day, it’s no longer uncool. In fact, it’s the opposite. Reading is an “aesthetic” or a “mood”. People take pictures of their books to brag about the fact that they’re spending their afternoon reading. Imagine having enough time to read for the evening? Everyone is instantly jealous.

Reading is a necessity. Where else can you look at symbols on a page and imagine an entire new world? Reading sparks your creativity. You read a romance story or an action-filled thriller, and it’s up to you to decide how it goes down. What do the characters look like? What are they wearing? What are their mannerisms?

As a reader, you are the director. You decide how the movements get carried out, what their expression looks like, and how they act in between the lines. It’s essentially like hallucinating: you get to think up this whole new world that is unique to you alone. Two people will perceive the same instance in two different ways. Your experience is unique to you, and a special bond is formed between you and these imaginary characters.

As an avid reader, I can attest to this. In middle school, I was “too cool” for reading, but in high school I began to change my view on things. Ultimately, I was disappointed in my lack of vocabulary, so I began reading more often. I read through the YA fiction classics: John Green, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Anna and the French Kiss, and the handful of popular dystopian YA novels.

Reading really did help my vocabulary. I did notice myself using better vocabulary and writing things more eloquently with smoother transitions. However, not only was I gaining knowledge on literacy and writing, I was also deepening my emotional experiences.

Reading allowed me to form personal relationships and grow attached to characters who didn’t even exist. My best friend and I deepened our friendship because we were able to share books with each other and discuss the characters as if they were real people.

We became closer friends with other bookworms like ourselves, and we were able to increase our critical thinking skills as we imagined what characters were thinking at certian points. We were angry at them, frustrated in their decisions, and feeling excited or proud of them at the exact same time. It was like a new set of friends.

As a girl who reads whenever she has the chance, I’d like to give you one piece of advice. Read whenever you can. Read to learn, read to experience. Read because, no matter what you thought in middle school, it is an absolute necessity.