Poll: When did reading become so horrible?

[Wildrow12]

It never became horrible.

One kid groaned because he had to do work, and the rest groaned because someone else was groaning. Too-cool-for-school-flock behavior.

In five minutes every one of them updated their facebook status with the deets.

I think it has to do with the current generation's attention span and the "instant gratification" era we live in. People nowadays need to get entertainment very quickly, and books are more like a slow release, instead of the instant spike that other forms give.

These guys have the right idea on what the problem is

As for me and my house? I'm going to curl up with my copy of "The Golden Age" by John C. Wright. Literacy: it's how I roll.

 

[SimuLord]

I love to read, but when I'm forced to read something in which I have no interest, it's an exercise in anger and frustration at having something as wonderful as reading subverted like that.

No wonder kids pick up a distaste for literature. If I'd been allowed to read stuff like what's in my personal library now (nonfiction about war, history, and economics) I'd have been a better student in high school.

 

[Blueruler182]

So the question is really "When did teenagers become such whiney little morons?" Speaking as a teenager, I can ask the same question. I think it's the combination of music, TV, and video games that have kinda started burying books. That and the fact that a lot of people were raised by the TV these days. It all comes back down to parents needing to be tested before being allowed a child...

 

[crudus]

It is proof that people can see a pattern. All through middle school(ok, second half) and High school I was forced to books I found terrible. I think I liked 5 books that entire time and found it to be a pleasant surprise. Otherwise reading was like pulling teeth. Lets put it in a way you can understand. Play through a terrible game and then play through another terrible game then play a good game then repeat. Someone will need to be forcing you to do this. As for my own experience, I remember reading 10 books about the holocaust during my high school career. Yeah, that is a little overboard.

 

[Shanecooper]

I would moan because that ment a week of reading crap before I could continue on with something good. I love reading, when I'm reading something I picked out. I do not want to read a book about a girl with down syndrome that enjoys football and lives in Alice Springs.

Then my teacher would tell me off for finishing the book in three days when the book is only about 150-200 pages long, when he knows damn well that I have a god damn TOMB that I want to finish reading because I want to.

 

[Death on Trapezoids]

Well, part of it is just putting up crap about a big project, I'm sure.
But the rest I would guess is because it is not summed up in an easy to absorb article.

 

[Lord Kodous]

I usually read several chapters a day of whatever book I'm reading. My current personal record for reading an entire series is 13 books (300-500 pages each) in 12 days.

 

[Zayren]

I'm a high School senior and for some reason whenever my english teacher assigns any kind of reading assignment it sounds like someone is being tortured, grunts and moans of dismay flood my ears and that got me wondering, when did reading become the thing of nightmares? Yeah sure it could be said that reading can be boring but they make it out as this horrible thing which is taking them to a dark room somewhere to torture them. I would like to know all of your opinions on this matter.

Probably because the stuff they make you read in school sucks. Fuck you Heart of Darkness, fuck you East of Eden, and fuck you Hamlet.

 

[Calhoun347]

I love reading, but when it comes to reading, there aren't too many books that actually appeal to me. School assigned books don't tend to be all that great, i think that is where the real trouble comes in.

 

[One of Many]

I happen to love reading and get at least an hour in every day.

With that said, I hated reading the books we had to in high school. They were depressing, plus I happen to be a sci-fi or fantasy fan and we never go to read anything close to those.

 

[Caligulove]

Dont agree with you, the only time I've hated reading is in High School when I had A LOT of reading from 2 different novels on top of the usual textbook reading, lab work and writing. Even then it was more of a feeling of being overwhelmed rather than hating the novels.

I still think its important to read at least 1 book every month.
Kept to that regimen pretty well all through my life

 

[arsenicCatnip]

Then my teacher would tell me off for finishing the book in three days when the book is only about 150-200 pages long, when he knows damn well that I have a god damn TOMB that I want to finish reading because I want to.

That used to piss me off. I could finish a book that length in about an hour, and it used to drive my teachers up a wall.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE to read. I still finish one book every day (and have done so for the past 18 years), but I hated reading in school because I'd get in trouble for doing what I do well: reading and absorbing material quickly and competently.

Teacher: "There's no WAY you could have finished that and understood it in that short time!"
Me: "Try me."
Teacher: *insert random question that requires deep reading*
Me: *answers without thinking*
Teacher: "........" *storms off*

 

[avatar_vii]

I can easily sit for hours and read. One time I lost track of how long it had been and later relised 8 hours had gone by. The only horrible thing about reading is that I am running out of books to read

 

[IxionIndustries]

I love reading. But I hate reading assignments. Because usually, they pick some really boring book, and then you have to make a report about it.

Also, I have a lot of gripe with them, because one time, I had gotten one of those freaking summer reading programs, and it said that I HAD to do it and turn it in next year, or else I'd fail.. Turns out, when I went to turn the shit in, it was actually for extra credit..

So yeah.. I only enjoy reading when it's something I want to read.
[small]By the way, Beowulf is fucking boring, especially in poem format.[/small]

 

[Horticulture]

Reading becomes awful when it's made mandatory.

 

[Nifarious]

Well, reading is different things to different ages. Talking high school, if you already like/dislike reading, classes won't change that much. An exceptional teacher could inspire someone to engage what they're assigned, but most of the work that leads people to read or feel revulsion for reading--which they just haven't really learned to do--is already finished by then. College, though, is the first time when what you read begins to matter...at least if you stay working in English or the like.
Anyway, my point is that when you're working on what you're reading, it doesn't matter that not many of those around you are reading/working on the same thing as well. Reading forms its own community.
In terms of getting the masses to read classics or even just at all, I don't consider that much of a loss to what the reader already has.

 

[Nifarious]

you read tombs? how Poe of you.

 

[TyphoidMary]

I love reading, I entirely too many books really, but half the time the books they assigned were godawful and so ridiculously boring. There were a few good ones, don't get me wrong, but for the most part they sucked.

Although in my classes most of the people actually didn't like reading, and some of them couldn't even read English. I love AZ.

 

[RebelRising]

From a certain angle, I could understand. English in school isn't so much "reading" as it is some sort of scientific dissection of a book, rather than enjoying and experiencing the story as a whole. Simply pointing out every theme, symbol, motif, contrast, similarity, characterization, allusion, and such takes all the fun out of reading. If you can't naturally absorb what the writer is trying to convey, then there simply isn't any point.

Fortunately, my English teacher for the past two years is great, and she's really done a top-notch job out of making such merciless analysis, dare I say, enjoyable. Besides, I do excellently in her classes, so I can't with any honesty that I'm not at least inclined towards such analysis. But it's not something I'm going to pursue in college. What I really dread is British Literature in my senior year. *shudder* God help us all.

Besides, I've mostly grown out of fiction; it just doesn't interest me anymore.

 

[icaritos]

The wheel of time is still one of the best things to happen in this planet period.