The Death of Reading

Reading is slowly becoming a dying hobby.  I am not surprised that many bookshops around Singapore have closed down.  First it was Borders at Wheelock, followed by PageOne at Vivocity and also Harris in Great World.  Will bookshops become a thing of the past?  Why are these bookshops not profitable?

These are questions that I ask myself.  And I have come to this slow realisation that people actually might be reading a lot less than in the past.  When I refer to reading, I mean the reading of physical books.  On the other hand, they are actually now reading more through sources like the internet which has become so accessible.

People are willing to pay hundreds of dollars for the latest handphone, but might not even spend that same amount on books.  They might love reading, but they simply do not see the need to buy physical books to read.  Even a person like me who quite enjoys reading seldom buy any books. Even if I do, my monthly budget or money spent on books is only around $20 to $50.  That is almost peanuts when compared to the amount I spend on food, transport, and other so-called necessities in life.  So I am not surprised in a certain way that the bookshops have closed down.  If even a book lover like myself is spending so little on books, how much money can these bookshops even make?

I also realised that time passes, I have set aside less and less time to read.  Work, the internet, distractions prevent me from reading a book in peace.  The latest book I bought still lies half read on my bedside drawer.  And yet, I have plenty of time to surf the net, eat, sleep and do so many other things.  Do I like reading?  Yes.  But I simply cannot afford the luxury of sitting down and reading like in the past.