Voice of Youth: Time to revive the love for reading

Everyone is aware of the benefits of reading, and yet why are people so reluctant to do it?

What I have noticed when discussing reading habits with others is that many were avid readers as children, but then eventually stopped reading for leisure entirely.

An adult I talked to even claimed to read only non-fiction, self-help books as fiction was "a waste of time".

In such discussions, people were always quick to defend themselves, saying that they were aware of the benefits of reading, but were simply too busy to do it.

In an age when library books, e-books and audiobooks are easy to access, it is unfortunate how far reading has been pushed down the list of priorities in life.

Even in schools, programmes to encourage reading are not given much attention, with other initiatives constantly swooping in to eat into the already limited time allocated to leisurely reading.

I hope that more people will be encouraged to seize the little moments of their daily lives that are typically filled by mindless autopilot activities to engage more enthusiastically in the beauty of literature.

Ashleigh Eva Ng, 16

Secondary 4 student

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