THE SANCTUARY OF THE PRINTED PAGE : ZARAFSHAN MANZOOR
Zarafshan Manzoor
Smartphones, social media, and endless streams of digital content are now marking their presence in the world, while books are being pushed to the shelves. Book reading was once considered the best habit, but with the advent of digital content, this habit is gradually becoming less common, especially among young people.The question that echoes around is not simply whether we are reading less, but what we stand to lose if this trend continues. Even sacred scripts are preserved in book forms. Can we afford to take gadgets to places of worship and recite from them? Perhaps for the time being we can, but then how safe is it to bring digital scripts into such places where the sanctity of the book is irreplaceable?
Books are not mere collections of words on paper.They are gateways to knowledge, imagination, creativity, and empathy. Open any book you have read, and it will transport you to a past experience—the whiff of the paper, the underlined words, and above all, the memories preserved between the lines. Unlike the fast-paced nature of social media, book reading encourages patience, concentration, and deep reflection. I remember how we used to cover our books using different cover pages to preserve them for the year.The thrill of packing books and making mini-libraries in our reading rooms had its own tale to tell.
As Hemingway writes, "There is no friend as loyal as a book."
Recently, a book festival—namely the Chinar Book Festival—encouraged me to see that most people have maintained their loyalty to the book-purchasing culture. Lots of young people were seen buying books, which shows that either they have realized the physical book is superior to the digital book or else they have turned back to conventional reading. It is also true that today’s digital world constantly competes for our attention. Notifications, short videos, and endless scrolling provide instant entertainment, making it increasingly difficult to focus on a book for even a few minutes. While technology has made information more accessible than ever before, it has also reduced our attention span and our willingness to engage with long-form reading. I am reminded of my all-time favorite quote: "Reading is a discount ticket to everywhere" (Mary Schmich).
It is important that we promote book culture at the school level and introduce the D.E.A.R. Activity.The D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) program has a fascinating history rooted in children's literature. It first appeared in Beverly Cleary's 1981 novel, Ramona Quimby, Age 8, where the character Ramona's teacher introduces a period of quiet reading in which the whole class stops standard tasks to read. Ramona adores the routine, calling it D.E.A.R. time. Unlike mandatory curriculum reading where specific texts are tested, D.E.A.R. typically allows students to choose any material of interest, such as novels, graphic novels, poetry anthologies, or magazines.
Both as parents and teachers, we need to inculcate a book-reading culture at school and at home. Parents who maintain good home libraries naturally develop a knack among children for opening books and absorbing vocabulary.
One of our major concerns today is the declining interest in spelling; the digital world has not only sabotaged spelling habits but has also distorted natural language patterns, thereby corrupting the written word.
Books are our oldest friends, so let us call them back and refresh this friendship before they vanish once and for all. I would even suggest that we make books our first and final choice as birthday gifts for our loved ones, making it a regular routine to promote a thriving reading culture.
(Zarafshan Manzoor is a technology professional, international educator, and researcher, currently serving as a Computer Trainer at Foundation World School. She is a certified Cambridge Professional Development Qualification (PDQ) educator and is recognized within the South Asian Cambridge educational network for her expertise in aligning global pedagogical standards with active, student-centred classroom learning.)
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