Children will be missing out

Madam – I read with interest the article on your website about the Patel sisters who started a “literary haven”.

I applaud the sisters for their intelligent initiative. As an avid reader myself, I can attribute my broad general knowledge to dozens of years of escaping into a fantastic book. I think with technology these days, it’s rare to see a child or even a young adult with a healthy love of books.

For example, I went to a local eatery last week for a cup of coffee and with a novel I was reading at the time. At the table next to me was a mom and her two teen girls. While the mom perused the menu, her daughters, who could not have been older than 16 at the most, were busy on their cellular phones.

What interested me about this was that the whole time I was there, which was about 40 minutes, the daughters and their mom barely interacted at all. The children would show each other what they were looking at on their small screens and the mom would try talking to them and give up only to concentrate on her food or her own cellphone!

What has become of this world??

I also have an ebook reader, but nothing even comes close to comparing with the feel of a good book under your fingers as you curl up. Is this simple pleasure now lost to the “art” of technology for good?

It makes me wonder also about the lack of attention shown in today’s generation, Can this also be attributed to the new need for instant gratification? It stuns me to think that 20 years down the line, libraries may become obsolete. It’s absolutely heartbreaking.

I hope parents of today’s generation will think twice before allowing gadgets to become surrogate babysitters. I hope they will realise the value of a good back and of proper social interaction. It pains me to think the love of books will die.

Bookworm