[The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the Alligator.]
Our generation reads, too
With the extremely rapid growth of technology throughout this century, my generation has been the first to grow up completely surrounded by the new advances offered to humanity. Everyone has a smartphone, an Instagram and a Facebook account. We Google everything from the plotline of a movie to the history of a catchphrase. We use hashtags, communicate with people hundreds of miles away with a tap of our finger and take an extreme amount of selfies.
Our generation, the young 20-somethings either in college or striking boldly into the workforce, who move at a lightning-quick pace through everyday life and operate almost exclusively in a heavily image-based social culture, has been criticized by most of its older counterparts. We are said to be image obsessed, shallow and self-absorbed. I spoke with someone the other day who didn’t own a computer, and when I expressed some surprise at this fact, he became condescending, explaining to me that “(my) generation barely knows how to read a book!”
Well, if that’s the case, I really don’t understand how we are all in college right now.
This sentiment about the millennial generation’s apathy with regard to books, and to reading in general, seems to be one that is widely shared by adults. To an extent, I can understand where they might get the notion. Bookstores such as Borders and Barnes & Noble are being downgraded and put out of business by big, technology-driven companies such as Amazon. It’s a lot more common to see someone scrolling through their Twitter feed rather than flipping through a book while they ride the bus.
But these are individual instances that fail to look at the bigger picture and fail to see the way technology has actually helped my generation and future ones to read and absorb more about the world.
We take in information every day from so many sources: Articles popping up on our Facebook walls, information found from Google searches, online magazines and news websites that are a virtual melting pot of information and opinions from all over the world.
These technological sources we are surrounded by every day do not keep the millennial generation from connecting with other people; in fact, they do just the opposite and encourage us to create connections and form informed perspectives on current world issues.
Every day, I read articles, reviews and commentaries on subjects that interest me, and many of them happen to be about books and reading.
For the people who love to read — and there will always be so many of us, the numbers growing each time someone finishes a book and says to themselves, “that changed me” — the rise of technology has facilitated an even wider range of channels through which to read and have discussions. The rise of technology has not given us a more self-centered outlook on life, but a more interconnected one, open to new ideas and inventions.
In a recent study conducted of the millennial generation and our reading habits, it was found that millennials are more likely to have read a book in the past 12 months than an older adult and are just as likely as an older adult to have been to a library.
Our generation has grown up using and adapting to the technology of this century as it evolves around us, and it has given us the ability to see and use the written word in brand new ways. This growth is something to be celebrated.
Sally Greider is a UF English and public relations sophomore. Her columns usually appear on Tuesdays.
