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Importance of Reading

There are many ways to take in information: reading, watching videos; listening to recordings and music; and viewing art, drawings, graphs, and data, and each has unique strengths. This section focuses on the many pros of reading, which make it an essential skill used throughout our lives.

Types of Written Materials

We are in the Information Age, so what types of information are in written form?

Books and articles, magazines, and newspapers
Poetry and lyrics
Signs (Information, directions, traffic and street signs, announcements, sales, etc.)
Email and texts
Mail (Sadly, this includes junk mail)
Reports, bills, and contracts – typically the only official record accepted by most societies presently
Instructions (medical, financial, legal, etc.)
Advertisements and catalogs
Code for computer programs (Java, Javascript, Python, etc.)

The amount of written information on the Internet is staggering, but it is challenging to compare how much is text, video, recordings, images, and data. Using the Internet, you can send a document of several pages that would take 10 minutes to read in a relatively small file; whereas, videos and recordings that play for 10 seconds require much larger memory storage.

A Very Brief History of Reading

Humans have been reading for over five thousand years. Since reading requires written material, reading began with the earliest written language ~3500 BC. P wrote on materials that were solid (bark, wood, or stone), could be turned solid (clay), or were relatively rare (silk or leather). These materials were hard to mass-produce nor easy to carry with you, so libraries were created so people could come to the writings. The invention of paper in China in 105 C.E. expanded the use of written information in society since it is lightweight, portable, drawable, paintable, printable, flexible, foldable, tearable, and cuttable. The advent of the printing press replicated books quickly and accurately, which increased public access to the same written content. As written materials became more readily available, and as technology began to change the amount of manual labor in agriculture and industry, the rates of literacy increased as schools proliferated. Newspapers distributed daily information more efficiently, expanding the importance of written material throughout society. The proliferation of text has only increased with the Internet. The bottom line is that humans have been reading (and writing!) for quite a while.

The Longevity of Written Materials

Once in hard copy, written materials don’t need any other technology or energy to use them. They are transportable, sharable, and relatively durable. Conversely, videos and recordings require specialized equipment and energy to view/listen to them. And as video and sound technologies have changed over time, old videos and recordings don’t often work on the newer technologies. Have you heard of 8 tracks? 45s? 33 LPs? Laser discs? CDs? VHS? So many forms of videos and recordings are obsolete now, yet libraries are filled with printed materials many decades, and possibly centuries, old.

Benefits of Reading

Psychology Today summarizes the many cognitive and social benefits of reading:

Expands your language abilities.
The more you read, the better the reader you become (positive feedback).
Gain useful knowledge.
Get smarter (actually increases one’s IQ).
Physically changes the brain to allow more complex mental processing.
Develop more empathy.
Have better and more productive lives.

We are not saying that videos, recordings, drawing, art, graphs, and data are not also relevant, just that reading is an essential skill for obtaining information throughout your lifetime.