The benefits of reading are inexhaustible. Technology keeps expanding and reading keeps experiencing a decline, unlike in times past when books were loved.
Are people not aware of the privileges of reading? Oh, they know! They are aware that reading makes one knowledgeable, well-informed, visionary, and all.
That aside, if those benefits aren’t convincing enough, we’d need to go beyond the known benefits, and try some non-traditional remedies, perchance they could yield results, in our endeavor to make reading appealing.
Samsung and iPhone lovers always rumble about their phones’ battery life. Thus, they’re seen carrying phone chargers alongside power banks wherever they go, even if they had left home with a fully charged phone. Reading curbs this bizarre, as it preserves the phone’s battery life.
For travelers who go onboard with a book, they’d spend a chunk of their hours reading than needlessly visiting social apps. They’d believably get to their destination with their battery life not drained, and wouldn’t be hasting towards charging slots for replenishing. So, if it’s a town that you’re going to, carry a book along. In your leisure hours, don’t overburden your phone; channel the energy into reading.
Adiza Mohammed, ever since we came to form one, was always with books (novels). She reads and reads. That was the time some of us hardly read outside the curricular books. We soon likened her to a university student. Our teacher, Mr. Ahiator, often used her as an example. Even when some of us wanted to engage her in a tiff, we marked our tenses in our heads before finally letting them out. Lest she bullied us with her impeccable English.
Some years back people who wore medicated lenses were seen as intelligent. The same reverence is given to bibliophiles. Remember, the first impression is everything. The more you’re seen reading, the more your self-esteem is boosted. That’s how you become what you read.
Reading instills discipline; it makes one committed to a course. Those with indiscipline traits may suffer to complete a book. Because they’d have to set a reading target for themselves and, thus cling religiously to it. Imagine reading a three hundred pages book, and you’re the type that isn’t disciplined. Four years will come and you still haven’t finished.
Take a stroll around Kwame Nkrumah Circle, Accra. Brandish an expensive book. No robber or hooligan cares! It won’t cross their minds to snatch the book and bolt. They have no business stealing books. But go to the same venue, and still be on guard, with the slightest mistake, they’d steal even your “yam” phone. Hence, reading wards away pickpockets. Agreed?
Introverts, we are told, are friends of books. We may take them as people who aren’t sociable, but they’re extroverts when it comes to books. Look, books are perfect companions. They keep one company whenever feeling deserted. Times that one feels lonely, books are the resort. Books don’t give broken hearts like men do. They inform and keep the reader away from peril.
Once you read, you are saved from “kokonsa”. When people who survive on gossip come your way, they’d find you antiquated, because you’re always busied with books and reading. They won’t consider you in their gossiping fanfare.
A study by the University of Sussex in 2009 found that reading for as few as six minutes reduces stress by as much as 68 percent than taking a walk, drinking a cup of tea, or playing video games.
Sometimes we’re dazzled at those who read voluminous books, especially non-examinable books, too. Because we don’t seem to see the need. But if not for anything, we’d understand closely that they learn how to be patient, as they’re impenitent towards flipping the pages.
What we need to know is that there is something in reading. Yes! But that something won’t find us until we find it.
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A boy reading a book