As a newspaper, we run polls every day to gauge public opinion, social trends or personal habits. So, at the end of 2015, a question was put up asking readers which of the year’s most acclaimed books they had read. The results were startling, to say the least. An overwhelming majority said they just didn’t read books. 92 per cent to be precise.
Results from other polls and surveys done regionally and globally also seem to indicate a demise of the reading culture.
A 2012 survey by the Arab Thought Foundation found that an Arab child spent six minutes a year reading. That’s the amount of time you’d spend reading the back of a cereal box.
Adults didn’t fare any better — they read just a quarter of a page in the time it took the Earth to complete its way around the sun - 365 days for a quarter of a page.
The situation definitely looks bleak. “A crisis,” as described by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
But what is the cause of the crisis? Are mobile phone games and television shows taking over the time one would normally spend curled up with a book? Or are readers simply not interested in anything longer than 140 characters in today’s digital age? What is the explanation behind the staggeringly low numbers?
“I don’t understand why students resist reading as much as they do,” Dr Ralph Berenger, a professor of journalism and mass communications at American University of Sharjah, told Gulf News.
“I even have had criticism on my student evaluations that say, ‘He made us read the textbook!!!!’,” he added.
But according to Dr Berenger, young adults are still exposed to information and literature, just not in the book format.
“I think we’re wrong to suggest that students do not read at all. They read a lot online. But this new technology is fast and brief, and I think that has something to do with shortening attention spans.
“Young people’s brains are being rewired to consume information much more quickly, and to immediately discern what interests or bores them. This is a challenge for university professors to overcome and adapt,” he said.
But while data and information is conveniently available online, litearture still continues to live mostly in bound paper. In another daily poll conducted on gulfnews.com, when asked if Shakespeare was relevant in today’s day and age, 44 per cent said: no. Painfully for lovers of the language, 16 per cent asked: “Who is Shakespeare?”
If you were hoping the decline in print books is simply because readers were choosing more convenient options like e-readers and audio books, hope harder.
A 2015 survey by Pew Research showed no significant increase in consumption of e-books or audio books in the US in the past three years.
So, book reading is on the decline and newer digital formats do not seem able to stem the bleeding.
What, then, happens to literature and language if books disappear from homes, schools and bags?
Government initiatives
In his National Day address in December, President His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan delcared that 2016 would be ‘The year of reading’.
In a series of tweets, His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai wrote: “A nation and its people cannot progress without reading. The scientists, researchers and innovators that will lead the future will not come from nowhere. We have to create them on the basis of a love for reading and a passion for knowledge and curiosity.”
This passion for knowledge and curiosity will only be created when one actively seeks book-loving company, according to reformed reader Asma Al Janahi.
“I had stopped reading books when I was at university and was also working,” the 29-year-old Emirati said.
Two years ago, Al Janahi decided to return to the world of words when she realised her exposure to literature and books was significantly lower than those she spent time with.
“I’m surrounded by people who like to read. Because I had stopped reading, I felt like people around me are more knowledgeable, and I’m the person who doesn’t have knowledge. If we need strong information, you won’t get that from a Google search. You have to read books,” she said.
Today, she sets a yearly target for herself, dividing her time between fiction and educational books. And for those blaming the decline of reading to social media, Al Janahi seems to have found a working solution.
“There might be 20 books in my car right now. Whenever I read a book, I share reviews, tips or inspiring content on my Snapchat or Periscope accounts. And the response has been very encouraging,” she said.
Actively involved with the recently launched #uaereads campaign, Al Janahi said reading was essential to gaining wisdom.
“I’ve said that on my Periscope session as well, just read 15 minutes daily, may be before you sleep or early in the morning, dedicate yourself to two to three pages. If you do that, in the future you’ll find yourself reading much more than you can imagine.”
