I have been a great reader since I was a child.
I guess the reason was that I needed to read a
book to protect myself.
I have an elder brother. He is not a nice
person. He always bullied me. My mother never helped me. But if my brother
disturbed my reading, my mother would scold him. She thought disturbing someone
while they were reading a book was worse than bullying. So, I had to read books
to avoid being bullied by my elder brother all the time.
I often used the school library. I also
visited the city library with my friends by bicycle every Saturday.
Once, my university and workplace were very
far from my home. It took about two and a half hours to commute. But this was a
joyful time for me. I could read books on the train.
My home was at the edge of Nagoya city. I
needed to take trains to do anything. If I needed to meet someone, I needed to
take the train. Usually, I needed to transfer to another train. Most people
hate wasting time on transportation. But I loved it because I could read books.
In my case, being on a train is the best situation for reading a book.
I married my wife. There was the pandemic.
One day, I realized that my reading time had
drastically decreased.
My wife is not a good talker. But she is a
nice person. Talking with a nice person is joyful. I read almost no books at
home.
Since the pandemic, I can work and meet people
without transportation. Before the pandemic, I took the train to go somewhere
every day. But now, I only take the train a few times a month.
Furthermore,
I have my smartphone now. I enjoy games on my smartphone. Sometimes, I also
read electronic books on my smartphone. But it is only a few times a month. I
almost forget the content.
I am not a great reader anymore.
I had an opportunity to talk with a talented
young playwright. She said the shocking words: “I hate reading a book.” When I
was young, senior playwrights always appealed to how many books they had read.
A new era is about to come.
If I had been born in this era, I might stick
to my smartphone all day and night. In this case, my mother would never have
protected me from my elder brother.
But I am sure we can learn from
smartphone games or smartphone movies the same as books. I think they are just
different types of media for individual use.
Like me, most great readers
didn’t use to have good conversation partners at home. Or most of them needed
to spend time on transportation. Since smartphones’ spread, they have another
option to spend their time.
A famous Japanese novelist,
Osamu Dazai, wrote, “Not reading books is proof that a person is not lonely.”
I think we can say the same
thing about smartphones and games. If a person is not lonely, they never need
any book, smartphone, or game.
Most people can’t spend their
lifetime without being lonely. Books used to be our only friends when we were
lonely. But we have other options now. I think it is a good thing.
Proofreading
by ProofreadingServices.com
Picture
by Yuka