Studio Brief 2 - Articles on Ruduced Reading

The decline of literary reading:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/09/07/the-long-steady-decline-of-literary-reading/?utm_term=.b0f0616d1a72 - Christopher Ingraham

'There are a lot more products and platforms competing for your attention today than there were 30 years ago — video games have exploded in popularity and movies have transformed from something you did at the theater to something you do at home. Perhaps most important, the Internet, with its infinite distractions, did not exist 30 years ago.'

On the importance of libraries:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/26/no-one-use-libraries-any-more-rubbish-sanctuaries--enrich-communities - Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Journalist and former Conservative aide Andre Walker took to Twitter. “Nobody goes to libraries anymore,” he wrote. “Close the public ones and put the books in schools”

'What a privileged position to take, I thought, this assumption that these vital public spaces are not needed. Spoken like someone who has always been able to afford books and magazines (or else, I suspect, doesn’t read), who can pay for an internet connection, who doesn’t need help filling in government forms.'

'Spoken like someone who doesn’t require shelter from the storm, isn’t housebound or lonely or trying to escape a chaotic home life, isn’t a new parent wondering what to do with a small, helpless being for a few hours, because it’s raining and you’re knackered.'

'Libraries may be needed more by poor people but many comfortably off people use them too. Regardless of class background, libraries plug us into our communities, reminding us that there is life beyond our living rooms, that there’s more to our daily existences than work and coming home, and the same again tomorrow.'

Reading can offer improvements to health:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/may/24/have-a-lover-have-friends-read-books-said-montaigne-he-was-right-about-one-of-them - Germaine Leece

'Stories have been around since time began; they tell us what it is to be human, give us a context for the past and an insight towards the future. A narrator’s voice replaces our stressed, internal monologue and takes us out of our life and into the world of a story.'

'In 2009, research out of the University of Sussex found reading could reduce stress levels by 68%, working better at calming nerves than listening to music, going for walks or having a cup of tea.'

'A 2013 study found reading literary fiction can help you become more empathetic, by giving you the experience of being emotionally transported to other places and relating to new characters. Other studies have shown reading can improve sleep quality and ease mild symptoms of depression and anxiety.'