In the digital age of clicking (or touching) buttons, entertainment has removed the popularity chart. Social media connects our brains in such a way that keeping away from the screen has become a daunting task. Still, several young people in the city are swimming trends and are reading in gardens, homes or book clubs. What makes them pick up books in the era of disappearing bookstores and short attention spans? We found the reasons behind the quiet reading revolution:
“I want to experience things slowly”
Everything is fast. Groceries, fast food, fast dopamine. Our current generation needs everything fast and they are slowly losing the beauty of experiencing what should be. Social media plays a very important role in this, and to some extent, our attention span observations and experiences are no longer an emotion, but rather statistics on creators creating more dopamine addictive content. OK, what will this change? Books have a small chance to retain the beauty of slowly experiencing things, just as they should be.
Sathwik Maanthini, Founder and Chef of Communitie Book Club
“Books help you build deeper connections”
Social media should make our lives easier and instant. But usually, we end up being isolated by it. I believe books are the better medium for building the kind of connection we desire. Yes, yes, but deeper. Books let you discover similar perspectives to you, so you feel less alone in the world. But they also allow you to explore very different narratives. These are the few times in your life that you really put yourself on someone else’s shoes and experience the world through their eyes. Books let you escape. Or they can help you realize that things are periodic. You are not the only one who feels this way. I think the pandemic has helped people return to reading. It provides them with space for rediscovery. People begin to yearn for life slower. As we learn again and again: more is not always better. That's why reading never leaves fashion.
Sanjana Datla, Technical Consultant
“Books – The First Social Network”
I think books are the first social network. They linked humanity to thoughts and stories for centuries. Despite all the shining things social media brings to us, I still feel like I need space to breathe, think and get lost in a story or idea, and books are given to me. They won't get your attention with notifications, likes and comments. They just quietly invite you to join. You interact with it at your own pace. Even in our book club, in addition to reading stories, we gathered to argue the ending and fell in love with characters without Instagram. It feels like a connection that is not guided by algorithms. People misunderstood that reading is an isolated activity and our book club breaks the idea every week. We have a wonderful community built around the act of reading and sharing stories. In fact, on May 11, we organized a full day of “cover covers” on T-Works to celebrate story and literature.
-Shreya P, Policy Research.
“Books develop a deeper understanding of the world”
After a long and tired day, one may find deeper comfort, rather than in the notification, a quiet conversation with Shakespeare, Tagore, Orwell, Ramdari Singh Dinka, Amrita Pritam, Khalil Gibran or Tony Morrison. These books exist in eternal spaces—no algorithmic or digital trends. As someone who started as a tech graduate and later transitioned to literature, I began to appreciate prophecy and strong literary abilities. Like Orwell's 1984 work, decades ago warned us about the psychological grip of technology and surveillance, which is a more relevant destruction today. Reading such literature not only connects us to the past; it raises our awareness of the present. It cultivates empathy, self-reflection and a deeper understanding of the world around us – in a technology-driven era, quality is becoming increasingly important.
Suysha Agarwal, Assistant Professor of English at MGIT
“Teaching you new things”
I have been an avid reader since I was a child and I found peace in books. No matter the genre you read, you will always learn new things from a book. I am a curator in Hyderabad, the reading community, and more and more people join us every day.
Books give us a chance to get out of social media. When I was reading, I was completely offline. But there are others who are slowly breaking down the screen. Instead of reading a book, they took a break on pages 15-20. Many of them are corporate employees and they are oppressed. So when they came here they read a few pages and then stopped. Again, they will continue from that page next week.
– Hyderabad
“Helps relieve stress”
Even in this digital age, Reading offers many benefits. It helps you open up to new perspectives and ideas and helps enhance memory and vocabulary. For me, it helps me to go to new places without traveling and relieve stress.
– Hyderabad co-curator Mohammed Nusrath Quadri
