Blog

In Defence of Reading

I might be a little biased in my assertion that reading is the best way to spend one’s time as an English Literature graduate, but it rings truer with every passing book.

We are told time and time again to move away from the screen and toward the book, but it would be fair to say the rise of the Kindle has certainly blurred that distinction somewhat. If we’re reading from a Kindle, are we moving away from the screen, or do we not count the Kindle as a screen in the conventional sense?

Whatever the answer may be to that question, I have been unable to stop reading books for the last three years, whether that be via screen, paperback, or hardback. When I finished my undergraduate degree, I felt exhausted and uninterested in books. Then my uncle got me a pile of books for Christmas which reminded me just how joyful a reading experience can be.

I opted to do a Master’s degree to continue the love affair with reading in 2018, and since starting it, I have been continuously reading every day (usually 40-50 pages a day) for the last three years. From prize-winning fiction to books on various sporting triumphs, I’ve always tried to vary the kind of books I read week-to-week - and that’s the key to getting the most out of it.

I would also say that you should never feel inclined to finish a book if you’re not enjoying it. I’ve had numerous phases in life of reading a book and not enjoying it, and subsequently giving up on books entirely for a while. But this shouldn’t put you off entirely, just as a bad TV show, or a bad film shouldn’t put you off film or TV.

Ultimately, this is a journey that begins in childhood, and hopefully flourishes with age. The reading schemes at school for me were fantastic at encouraging me to obtain a healthy balance between the book and the television screen as I was growing up. They say that knowledge is power, and where better to obtain knowledge than a book or even a library?

In fact, October is National Library Month, and 1decision wants to be a part of the journey to increasing emotional intelligence in children via our own storybooks and animations. We cover a variety of topics from Grief (‘Purple’s Pet Bird’) to exploring the natural world (‘Rainbow’s Day Out’) to dental hygiene (‘Orange Brushes Her Teeth’). We show children that new situations may not be as frightening as they appear initially.

To return to the issue around Kindles blurring the distinction between screen and book, it could be said that 1decision does similar with its Early Years curriculum. The concept of a book is something that has completely changed, and we’ve evolved with it through our animated storybooks. Bringing storybooks to life and making them interactive is something we’re very proud of. We want screen time to be a positive rather than the negative it’s so often portrayed as.

You can download our RainbowSmart App for FREE, which has all the stories available in the palm of your hand. It’s available on Google Play and the App Store now. A full subscription with access to every story is also available for just 99p per month.