Reader – The extinct specie

“In the old days books were written by men of letters and read by the public. Nowadays books are written by the public and read by nobody.”
― Oscar Wilde

Is the literary landscape experiencing Oscar Wilde’s harsh observation? Have we reached a flash point of mediocrity? Is that the reason for the diminishing number of readers? Or does the cause lie elsewhere? I believe technology is one of the culprits. It has redefined our lives in terms of focus, patience and expectations.

We seek instant nirvana. With shrinking number of hours at our disposal and tons of commitments, thanks to a million activities and entertainment avenues that today’s technologies and devices offer, we tend to accomplish each one in bits and pieces and sometimes back off completely.

Reading is one such activity which gets pushed down the priority list.

And yet when we do undertake this activity, we expect it to be short, quick and gratifying. Brevity seems to be the key to our actions. No wonder then reading a book in its entirety has gradually become an obsolete habit, whether it is a paperback or an E-Book.