(no subject)

[shadowkat]

Co-worker: No one reads books anymore. Everyone binge-watches television shows. There's so much on.
Me: I do. I read books. And I write them.
Co-worker: You are in the minority.


Sigh.

Please tell this is NOT true. Please, please tell me that I am not in the minority!

Anyone???


If I were to rank my cultural interests they would remain:

1. Books
2. Music
3. Live Theater and Dance
4. Television/Film

I can live without TV. I have before. I cannot live without books. It took me forever to figure out how to read. I desperately wanted to. I could escape into the books, into another world, and cast the characters as I saw fit. Hear them in my head. Skip ahead. Skim. No commericals. Complete control.
And I could tell myself stories, spin them.

Books teach you empathy. They take you into someone else's head. I love them. You can read them anywhere.

Comments

[cactuswatcher]

Well, B&N and Amazon aren't getting out of the business of selling physical books and e-books any time soon. Even James Patterson and Bill Clinton know that! ;o) I have to say I watched more TV when I was working... I'd come home, stuff my face and sometimes be too tired to do much besides sit in front of the TV till bedtime. But reading a new book was a lot more interesting. Some people get addicted to regular TV, some to streaming, some to other things on the Internet, some to music, some to texting and so on. But there are a lot of folks out there buying and enjoying books still.

[shadowkat]

Actually B&N is hurting at the moment and struggling due to Amazon and ebooks.

But, true. People still read. Not everyone is addicted to television.

I did however get into a weird debate with an old college roommate who argued that watching television is just as good as reading. And there's no difference.

Sigh.

[deird1]

Well, I could show you the size of my bookcase, but then I’d also feel obliged to show you the size of my DVD collection... They’re about even.

[shadowkat]

More or less similar. It wasn't meant as an either or...which apparently my old college roommate interpreted it as. (She got upset and thought I was dissing television watching, considering how much tv I watch that's hilarious.) LOL!

[trepkos]

I'm a bit concerned about how little reading my 10 year old niece is doing. At her age, I was reading 3 or 4 books per week. Any time she is allowed to, she plays games on the computer - educational games, but still. And the school has encouraged them to get house points! I asked what she was reading - it was a book on getting more self esteem. *sigh*

[shadowkat]

My brother didn't read at that age, nor did my Mom. Now they both read daily. So it could change.

[promethia_tenk]

Hmmm. I watch far, far more tv anymore than I read books. And I don't really feel apologetic about that, though I am trying to get back into reading more because I do love it.

Weirdly, if you forced me to choose only one, I think I would have to go with books, possibly for the reasons you state: I have lived without tv (mostly) and thus can imagine living that way again. But I have never not had books.

[shadowkat]

I'm about even at the moment. Many of my co-workers watch tv at lunch or on their commute on various gadgets. I can't stand watching television on gadgets, because I need the screen to be at least three or four feet from my face. So, I read and write at lunch time and on my commute. (We all take subways and trains to work, no one really drives, except for maybe three or four people. It's cheaper and easier to take the train, partly because our organization provides railroad transportation for free.)

I'm not reading great literature or anything. And don't get me wrong, I love television. Just, as a writer of books, I'd prefer people read them? LOL!