A Vital Line of Communication

Edited by Kathryn Lewis, Margaret Peters and Allie Rogers

When Holy Heart students were asked in a poll the biggest thing that got in the way of their reading, they answered with lack of motivation, hitting reading slumps due to school and other things being more exciting to them like the internet, why read a book when you can watch a movie?

All participants enjoy reading and want to incorporate it more in their life, but it can be really difficult to find time to read, stay in the right mindset and actually enjoy it as a pass time.

With the new rise of social media, Tiktok, internet drama, it’s become more difficult to do other things as we grow a dependence on our internet devices. Not only is it quicker than reading, thanks to social media platform algorithms, we will never have trouble finding things that will interest us.

So why read?

As stupid as it may sound, reading is an important part of life. You do it all the time, just by reading texts, road signs, it’s necessary for university, jobs, etc, which is why we tend to get taught at such a young age. It is a form of communication and necessary for almost every aspect of life. But saying this doesnt mean much to people, the best way to motivate yourself to read is to make it important to you. Read about something you care about, an interesting topic to you and over time, reading will mean more to you, a response commonly said from various students; “I would encourage them to find a topic that interests them and read a book about that. They could also ask their friends who are into reading what books are their favourites or to give recommendations. If you don’t enjoy reading you could consider listening to audiobooks instead because when you want to read, you aren’t stuck in one place and are able to move around and do activities like driving, cooking, and laundry so it’s more convenient than paperback. There are also plenty of people on TikTok who recommend books based on what tv shows and movies you like to watch”, “The first step to start reading is to find a book that interests you. If you try and read something you find boring, you won’t get anywhere at all. After you find a book, set a reading goal for every day. It doesn’t have to be crazy, start with trying to read 10–15 pages each day. Setting a schedule will turn reading into a regular thing, and will make it become daily practice.”

Reading may seem like a daunting task, but in reality I believe every single person can find a way to enjoy it in their own way, not just books, newspapers, subtitles, everything.

And If you are interested in starting it as a hobby, remember to pick a topic you like, go at your own pace, look for other ways to motivate yourself and even participate in the online book communities or get your friends interested.