.gif)
The habit of reading, once a popular pastime is now in decline, thanks to the threat poised by the visual media and computers. The children and youth of today have little patience taking the efforts to read a complete novel and rather prefer the past paced and rather easy task of viewing television. Even video games and the play station have score over children reading comics. Even adults, who during their youth were not exposed to the television and electronic games as the children are today seems to have shunned books. Recent research indicates that one in four Americans did not read a single book last year.
The advantages of the casual media over the print media are obvious. The former lends more interactivity and provides a whole gamut of functionality and options. However, reading has its own advantages which play stations and televisions can never replicate.
Reading, especially novels and other books enhances the vocabulary and help boost the power of concentration and perseverance skills. It helps boost the brain and develops a sharp mind, besides enhancing ones knowledge. Reading is also a great stress reliever. None of these advantages of reading are replicated by the visual and electronic media. An added advantage of reading books is unlike most electronic and visual media, it can b carried with you are read while traveling, while lying down to sleep and the like.