The writer is a 17-year-old Indian-American, currently studying at Bombay International School.
Our brains are perpetually fed with images. Images of skyscrapers billowing flames, images of celebrities strutting down the red carpet, images of scrumptious Mediterranean food platters. Images, images, images.
Everywhere. On billboards as we navigate through the intersections and flyovers of our city, on our social media feeds, on television, on newspaper covers. With the tentacles of the media being ever more agile and developing finer capillaries by the second, nothing is left to the imagination.
What about creating the image? What about allowing our brains to somersault, cartwheel, and backflip once in a while? How do we periodically escape the reality imposed upon us, where our brains are spoon fed and mollycoddled by our circumstances? How do we give ourselves the space to be active creators, and not dormant receivers?
The answer is reading. Fellow teenagers, I bet you just rolled your eyes, thinking “easier said than done!” I couldn’t agree more. Who has time or the inclination to read when there are standardised tests to rigorously practise for, laps to swim, tracks to run around, places to be and people to meet?! It doesn’t strike me as particularly surprising when teenagers regard reading as a pastime belonging to a previous era, a time when minutes elapsed slower and free time was available in enviable abundance.
Apart from the obvious advantages of reading — expanding our vocabularies and knowledge, improving focus and enhancing writing and comprehension skills — I see another benefit to reading critical for teenagers in the 21st century. Reading facilitates interaction between our own experiences and the world beyond our own. Reading allows us to create an image for ourselves that is intimate and personal — an ability we have lost as thousands of visuals assault us on a daily basis. Sidetracked by the hyperactivity of the world we live in, we lack a connection with our own experiences and creativity, and reading gives us the opportunity to rekindle the bond with ourselves that is neglected and wilting.
Teenagers are both victims and beneficiaries of the overwhelming bombardment of the 21st century. Instead of suffering from the onslaught of sensational news and enduring the blitzkrieg of our social media feeds, how about we acclimatise ourselves to a different kind of bombardment… of suspense, of plots, of twists, of complex characters and vibrant settings! The possibilities are endless, and I assure you, the vibrancy and exhilaration is unparalleled by any Snapchat filter, Buzzfeed article or Trump meme. How about exploring the Taliban agenda in A Thousand Splendid Suns, or viewing the world through the lens of a migrant in The Sympathizer, and Americanah, or experiencing the trauma of World War II through the perspective of a blind French girl in All The Light We Cannot See, or delving into the history of The Gene, or exploring British occupied Burma in The Glass Palace, or living the psychological tension in The Girl On The Train. Take your pick!
What’s in it for you
Reading facilitates interaction between our own experiences and the world beyond our own.
Reading allows us to create an image for ourselves that is intimate and personal.
Reading gives us the opportunity to rekindle the bond with ourselves that is neglected and wilting.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
 "Reading-THINKSTOCKPHOTOS")
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}