When I was a child,
PlayStation did not have a number. The best video games were played on Nintendo
and Sega and they certainly were not as detailed and realistic as they are
today. In fact, DVDs were just emerging as the next big thing, with VHS tapes
slowly fizzling out. There was no such thing as DVR. If you were not home to
watch it, or set the VCR to record, then you missed out on your favorite show. In
fact, things such as watching movies with high-definition quality lived only in
our imagination. Tablets did not exist, which was fine because I enjoyed
reading physical books from cover-to-cover. I still do, but it is slowly becoming
obsolete. This is where the problem lies.
Children reading from
tablets instead of hardcover books is not the only issue with the advancements
of technology but, for this purpose, it is our primary focus. An article on the Social Times website, dated June 14, 2014, provides vivid detail on the positive and negative effects of technology on the brains of children. The positives include the ability "to ascertain between competing facts, make decisions more quickly, heightened cognitive and analytical skills." Despite these abilities due to the improvements of technology, characteristics such as "patience, shorter attention spans, and a need of instant gratification" hinder the minds of young children. The article also focuses on penmanship for youth, where "children who first learn to write by hand are better at generating ideas and retaining information."
For as marvelous, extraordinary, and imaginative technology is, it can also become harmful to the developing minds of children as well as people of all ages. In 2010, writer Nicholas Carr published in an article, which thoroughly discusses the internet and how is "re-wires" the brain by disrupting an individual's focus. "The depth of our intelligence hinges on our ability to transfer information from working memory, the scratch pad of consciousness, to long-term memory, the mind’s filing system." Ultimately, while reading books sustains focus, imagination, and concentration, the internet causes interruptions and the inability to store information long-term. In addition, the brain is shattered - paying attention to hyperlinks, advertisements, and other disruptions on the page that it takes much longer to finish an article than it normally should.
As someone who wants to start his own business in the Entertainment industry, most specifically in publishing and creating creative content for the target audience of children and teenagers, I want to shift the attention back to physical hardcover and paperback books. While Kindles and iPads are tech-savvy, those technological gadgets provide distractions, because consumers are able to access social media websites, streaming services, and other applications on such device. As important as learning to type on the keyboard may be, penmanship and cursive writing is vastly more important. I believe the confines of a book can keep a youthful mind concentrated, which will allow them to focus and invest on the story, spark their creativity and imagination as to how the story will progress, and expand on their vocabulary.
There is more to life than constantly staring at screens and relying on technology.
Go ahead. Grab a novel, and dive into the story.
In closing, the video below from Discovery News recaps just how amazing and beneficial literary fiction books are for the human brain:
