Do you think reading for fun is underrated?

Question

Some people say there's great value in reading books, newspapers, etc. outside of school. Do you think they're right? Do you think reading books without being told to read them are worth the time? Does our society spend too many hours in front of the TV? Should more people read for pleasure?

Or, do you think reading novels is pointless, and/or boring, and/or difficult to do considering all the other activities you need/want to do? Are people who encourage others to read just wasting their time?

And does reading popular magazines mostly filled with pictures and celebrity gossip count as reading? Can anything good come out of reading that (besides entertainment)?

Answer whatever parts of the question you want. I'd love to hear your responses, whether you see value in reading or not.

Answer 1

if you want to expand your mind, and sound intelligent when you speak, then reading is totally underated. With technology today, it is making life so easy that reading seems like such a difficult task.

Answer 2

From the time I was 7,until 2 years ago, I read at least one book a day. I absolutely love reading. And anything counts as reading. I've read phone books, the dictionary, encyclopedias...I've even read pamphlets when there was nothing else. All reading should be entertainment. After all, don't you see the characters acting out their parts in your head while you're reading? If it's a really good book, doesn't it just kill you to have to put it down?

What's sad is all the people that can't read. Or they can only read at a first or second grade level, but they don't care.

Answer 3

I would be hard pressed to think of a single activity more likely to ensure a person's future success in life, certainly a young person's future academic success, than doing lots of reading. The first time I heard a university freshman admit that she had never in her life read a book (i.e. read one right through) I was truly horrified. To me that would be like someone who was not physically handicapped saying they had never gone for a walk in their life.