Netflix Has Destroyed Reading

Netflix is the most popular thing right now. We can't seem to go to bed without watching an episode or two of our favourite TV series. Binge-watching is everyone's favourite thing to do on weekends. A new series or a movie is coming out every other week. With different mediums like Hotstar, Prime Video also coming into play, there are many options available. The content is excellent, and it is a great way to pass the time. But one thing that has suffered from this is our reading. Bedtime reading was a brilliant thing. People used to read their favourite books before sleeping. But with streaming mediums coming into the competition, everyone faced a tough choice. Almost everyone chose the latter.

I remember in 7th grade, my friend and I used to look forward to the library period. There was just one in the whole week, so a holiday or a substitution on that day was deeply disappointing. There was only a section of books available for us and the first to reach the library got the best books. We got books for two weeks. But the time was too much. We had a competition among ourselves on who would complete the book faster. The reason for that was we wanted to read many books. Also, it gave us bragging rights. I remember that we had read all the Hardy Boys book by the end of 8th grade. This was the time when the TV series came into the scene. We started watching Flash, Arrow etc. and reading was a clear second option. We still read but only when there was nothing to watch — after that, reading books decreased gradually.

This has been the case with most of the people. Everyone still read once in a while when a great book comes along. There are still plenty of buyers for an Amish Devgn book, or a Sourav Ganguly autobiography. Though reading as a habit has gone extinct. Another issue is that the best books have their screen adaptation. Game of Thrones, Percy Jackson, Harry Potter are some examples when we can see what's described in the book, why to take the pain of reading something. A Harry Potter book can take a week or two to complete. The movie takes around 2 and a half hours.

Reading has become extinct. We all know about the benefits that come with it. But when was the last time humans did something helpful to them. We are currently in the streaming world, and the second coming of book age is a distant dream.