By Viji Thiyagarajan
A quarter of a century ago, I visited the central library in the JNU, hoping to find a rare book. Rising like a sentinel above the lush greens of the Aravalis, its towering nine-story structure held within it more than just books. Like any other library of the time, it held quests.
Back then, locating a book wasn’t a click away. It was an adventure, with the card catalogue at the heart of it. Imagine a massive wooden chest lined with rows of narrow drawers, each one heavy with index cards. Opening the right drawer was the beginning. Fishing out the right card from hundreds inside required patience. The call number etched on the card was no less than a treasure map. It required going to the right floor, into the correct aisle, down the endless rows of shelves till you arrived at the book.
Even now, in the age of digital databases, I remember that ritual. It slowed us down, made us linger, and taught us that finding knowledge is nothing short of an adventure.
Reading vs reels
Today, when over 900 million Indians have internet access and the literacy rate has climbed past 75%, finding a book is no longer a quest. A research paper, a classic novel, or a niche periodical is a tap away. And yet, paradoxically, we are reading less than ever.
Globally, the habit of reading is in sharp decline. The UK’s National Literacy Trust reported that only 34.6% of children and young people aged 8-18 enjoy reading. This is the lowest figure in the two-decade-long history of the survey. In the US, even nine-year-olds are disengaging from books.
What is filling the vacuum is a digital diet of short-form content, relentless notifications, and the passive pull of algorithmic feeds. We scroll endlessly but retain little. The deep engagement once demanded by books has been traded for fleeting dopamine hits, and there is an unmistakable cognitive shift taking place. ‘Brain rot’, Oxford’s Word of the Year for 2024, perfectly captures this phenomenon.
More than turning a page
In an age dominated by dopamine-driven scrolling and fractured attention, we are not just losing time, but also grey matter. An MIT study found that subjects who used ChatGPT demonstrated less brain activity. Our shrinking attention spans, eroding memory retention, and distorted cognitive patterns are symptoms of a deeper problem: a disconnection from deep reading.
Reading is one of the most powerful tools we possess, with its well-researched benefits including enhanced cognitive development, a richer vocabulary, stronger critical thinking, deeper empathy, lower stress levels, and reduced risks of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Studies suggest that reading may contribute to a longer life. Beyond health, it’s a gateway to culture, heritage, language, and identity. It’s a tool to ensure educational equity and inclusion, a value emphasised in India’s National Education Policy 2020.
Raising a nation of readers
The real challenge is to rekindle a culture of reading. It is a responsibility that must be shared by schools, parents, communities, and public institutions alike. Schools must move beyond syllabus-driven learning to embrace storytelling, book clubs, character dress-up days, and reading circles. Books must mean celebrations, not just homework.
Parents also must lead by example, whether by planning a weekly trip to a bookstore with their kids, spending time reading with them at home, or taking up library memberships like the British Council’s, where they can partake in reading programmes and storytelling sessions together.
Similarly, communities must invest in access. Platforms like StoryWeaver by Pratham are changing the game by making high-quality, multilingual children’s books freely accessible.
Inspiration isn’t hard to find. Bhilar, Maharashtra’s celebrated ‘Village of Books’, has stocked books in public spaces such as temples and the panchayat office. Mobile libraries, such as the Ghoda library in Uttarakhand’s hilly terrains and the Camel Cart library in the deserts of Rajasthan, are bridging access gaps in some of India’s remotest corners.
Even in the digital space, progress is being made. As part of the Smart Cities Mission, cities like Biharsharif, Tumakuru, and Bilaspur are developing digital public libraries, spaces that will help nurture smart, literate, and informed citizens of tomorrow.
Tech into a reading ally
In today’s digital landscape, the conversation warrants a shift from how we read to why we read. Reading, after all, is medium agnostic. Its power lies not in the paper or the screen, but in the engagement, comprehension, and transformation it fosters.
Far from being a threat to reading, technology is proving to be one of its most powerful allies. Beyond offering accessibility, portability, and convenience, digital platforms also cater to auditory and visual learners. When harnessed well, technology has the potential to democratise reading and learning at an unprecedented scale.
India is taking significant steps in this direction. The National Digital Library of India (NDLI) offers a staggering 17 million resources in over 200 languages. Platforms like DIKSHA are revolutionising school education through QR-coded Energised Textbooks, inclusive e-content, and assistive technologies for learners with disabilities.
These platforms came of age during the pandemic, and they stand as permanent pillars of India’s learning ecosystem. Complementing this ecosystem, the British Council’s Digital Library Walls set up at 500+ Arivu Kendras (knowledge centres) across Karnataka, use QR codes to bring curated educational resources directly to young avid readers, guided by the centre librarians.
The road ahead requires a cohesive push from government bodies, schools, NGOs, and other civil society organisations. Initiatives like NIPUN Bharat (National Initiative for Proficiency in Reading with Understanding and Numeracy), which focus on foundational literacy and numeracy, and the British Council’s EDGE programme for girls’ digital and language education, must be leveraged further.
We must evolve
If we are to raise a generation that thinks critically, dreams ambitiously, and learns deeply, rekindling a love for long-form reading must be an imperative. To build a reading nation, we must inspire the next generation to understand why reading matters. What doesn’t matter is whether it’s on a printed page, a tablet, or an audio track. The debate is not about choosing between books and bytes, but about bridging the distance between them.
It’s time we raise not just a generation that can read, but one that truly wants to.