“Oh Damn!” said Lord Peter Wimsey at Piccadilly Circus. “Hi driver!” The taxi man, irritated at receiving this appeal while negotiating the intricacies of turning into Lower Regent across the route of a 19 ‘bus, a 38-B and a bicycle, bent an unwilling ear.
“I have left the catalogue behind,” said Lord Peter deprecatingly, “uncommonly careless of me. Do you mind putting back to where we came from?”
Just like you, I tried hard to concentrate too. Not because I was fascinated by the title or something but because I owed it to the book. So, with furrowed brows I tried harder to focus because I have received so many rave reviews about the book. Fifteen minutes into reading this amazing piece named “Whose Body”, I gave up. I sometimes sit and think, “Why can’t I?” The former devourer of books could not even finish a single book in so many days. And while thinking all of that, I read a few more words and then I shut the book, yawned, stretched and like every other person, started browsing Netflix.
So, when I think how I got to this point, I just have one answer and that is technology. Okay, blaming the technology won’t help but I am going to do that anyway. A person, who used to be a bookworm once, fumbles upon the idea of reading. I have always been a reader. Back in my childhood days I used to spend hours reading the story of fairies and elves, tea parties and magic. My hunger for books was incomprehensible. In the summer breaks too, I used to spend the days while turning the pages and turning sides, trying to finish the book as fast as possible so that I can read the next one.
But, as years have passed, it has become really difficult to pick a book and then stick to it. Now, I don’t even trust myself that I will be able to finish a Winnie-the-Pooh story. And surprisingly a few months earlier I found myself abandoning books faster than a chameleon changes its colors. So, to put it together the reason behind my laziness and reluctance of not reading a book was Netflix and Amazon Prime. They offer us more than 2000 shows and movies and unlike books which require imagination and concentration these shows serve you everything on the platter. Why will you read the entire series of Harry Potter when you can easily binge watch it and finish in just 3 days? What sounds better; a book with so many pages and no audio-visual effect or a movie with everything that you will love watching?
A few days back at a casual gathering with my friends, someone asked “What have you been watching lately on Netflix?” And before I could even think of the answer, I realized that this is the question that has replaced “What have you been reading lately?” Everyone has Prime and Netflix subscriptions these days; everyone has at least one show that is recommended by his friend. So, to sum it up I don’t even remember the last time I picked up a book after watching a series.
And, stupidly enough I thought the answer to all my misery is to stop purchasing the books and read them on smart devices. So, I installed an app that allows you to read all kinds of books for free and chose a book named The Boy Who Loved by Durjoy Dutta. While I was scrolling through the collection on the app, I almost had a panic attack thinking will I ever be able to read just 10 of them? And then I finally realized it is not about the paper back or the kindle edition of books, but the way I had started to think.
And moreover, it is not just consumption of entertainment that has been reprogrammed, but our daily habits too. Now, we take our phones everywhere we used to carry a newspaper. For example, while travelling people used to read but today they laugh at the memes instead. And whenever this happen, the reader inside us wails in agony.
Over the years Netflix has become a part of the popular culture. Have you ever consider going out with friends and not discussing Stranger Things with them? So, the real question that needs an answer is- “Has Netflix changed the way we read or is it party responsible for reading becoming less preferred among young adults?” In the present time, being away from the computer or laptop screen is harder than it sounds. Novels are getting television adaptations like Varun Grover’s Sacred Games which was turned into a Netflix series and gained a lot of popularity. So, it is no more surprising that more and more people are asking whether they should read the book or wait for the series to get released.
On the flip side, I sometimes feel that it is not Netflix that has changed the way people read instead it has introduced audiences to book titles which they might not have stumbled across earlier. I personally would not have picked up a book to read named 13 Reasons Why but to astound myself I have seen the series. So, it is not the medium of content that is creating a problem but the thinking and views of people that affect it. Still, I would like to ask you a question; Has Netflix changed the way we read?