Our Love for Literature Dwindles in the Internet Age

Freshman Michael Pascale doesn't think literature is dead, but he would be one of the few. On his bookshelf lies Dante's Inferno and Mario Puzo's Omertaby, The Sicilian and The Godfather.

"I love to read," Pascale said. "It's good to stimulate the mind using comprehension skills." His friends chuckled snidely under their hands as he said this.

Pascale lamented over how most college students his age don't share his point of view on reading. "People find other means of entertainment instead of using their imaginations," he said. "If there were more books that interest kids our age - books on hip hop and drugs, you know, the stuff you see on TV - If they put that stuff into books, a lot more people would be reading."

Pascale's friend, freshman Jeven Chiera, chooses to read Cosmopolitan over books, deeming the latter to be too difficult to concentrate on, especially with her busy schedule.

"I always wanted to read The DaVinci Code though," Chiera said.

Sophomore Kevin Strickland flat-out does not like reading in general. "Reading is not very fun," he put it blatantly. "It's because I'm forced to do it for school - it makes me not want to do it for fun."

Communications professor Dr. Satish Kolluri is rarely ever seen without a copy of the New York Times under his arm. "I'm reading Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra; it's about the underworld of Bombay, and Stephen King's The Cell," he said.

Kolluri credits his love for reading to his parents, who had taught him since he was a child the importance of the written word. It's a love that he's passing on to his daughter.

"Pace is a commuter school for most students," Kolluri said. "On top of that, most people have jobs or internships. If they visit the library, it's usually just to check their email or do their homework. We've become a television culture. Reading requires attention, focus [and] time. With TV, nothing is left up to the imagination."

The desire to read is especially important from Kolluri's professional perspective. He believes reading improves language and writing skills, and in turn, public speaking.

Jeccy Heng, a sophomore, admits she hasn't read for fun since she started college. "If the first three pages of a book are bad, I usually ditch it," she said. "Besides, there are always textbooks that you have to read."

However, when she can manage it, Heng indulges in romance and mystery novels, as well as online fan-fiction about celebrities. She also browses the health and science sections of the news on the web.

"Come on, if you were given the choice to either read the news online or in paper form, which would you choose?" asked senior Danny Weng.

"The internet's taking over," said Weng, adding that the New York Times stands at One Pace Plaza "are basically pointless." He does have faith, however, in the literacy potential of today's youth, believing that with age, they will intrinsically move away from videogames and iPods to more "mature" means of keeping themselves occupied.

English professor Dr. Karla Jay's sentiments echo those of Kolluri: "Today, we have so many other choices. videogames, DVDs, musical venues - to some, reading seems slow, old-fashioned." Jay allows that reading is still something we like to do; unfortunately, time for reading can nowadays only be allotted in "stolen moments" such as one's typical subway ride, during which many, if not most passengers are immersed in the newspaper or a book.

"It's a loss," Dr. Jay said reflectively. "If people don't read, they're depriving themselves of a universe that can't be found anywhere else."