Poll: When did reading become so horrible?

[Necromancer1991]

I'm a high School senior and for some reason whenever my english teacher assigns any kind of reading assignment it sounds like someone is being tortured, grunts and moans of dismay flood my ears and that got me wondering, when did reading become the thing of nightmares? Yeah sure it could be said that reading can be boring but they make it out as this horrible thing which is taking them to a dark room somewhere to torture them. I would like to know all of your opinions on this matter.

 

[Marter]

I think it has to do with the current generation's attention span and the "instant gratification" era we live in. People nowadays need to get entertainment very quickly, and books are more like a slow release, instead of the instant spike that other forms give.

I'll read on occasion if I find a book that I like, but that seems to be very infrequent.

 

[thiosk]

It never became horrible.

One kid groaned because he had to do work, and the rest groaned because someone else was groaning. Too-cool-for-school-flock behavior.

In five minutes every one of them updated their facebook status with the deets.

This being said, if the book was "The Grapes of Wrath," the worst novel by steinbeck, the groans are warranted.

 

[Lolth17]

It's a combination of most people don't like to read and most people hate being forced to read something they wouldn't choose on their own. Probably more the latter than the former.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

What pissed me off in school was how the teachers always picked the most dumb, slow readers who used to stumble and tumble over every word like their tongues were drunk.

I would just read ahead myself and then daydream while I waited for them to catch up.

 

[Marowit]

I read every day during my lunch break. I just finished The Affinity Bridge (it was awesome), and am currently reading World War Z (and it is so far awesome).

I hated reading the books in H.S. too, and so I for the most part I didn't. I fudged my way through English with C's/B's (which was fine with me as I got A's in my other classes), and instead read books I wanted to. LoTR, Dune, Ben Bova's books, etc...

If I'm reading something I enjoy I love it. If I'm reading an opinion piece, whether or not I agree with it, I love it. When I read something that in turns helps me grow; whether intellectually or personally I love to read. I suppose from that last paragraph I should enjoy the books forced upon you in H.S., but I really couldn't stand them. From Catcher in the Rye, to The Lord of the Flies, to The Outsiders, 'bleh' I just couldn't stand any of them.

 

[Eatbrainz]

I reckon i must have spent hundreds of hours in total reading the Terry Pratchett novels in my school library, and i can't tell you how much it pisses me right off when somebody gives me shit because i'm reading, rather than being on one of the library computers playing "Super-Duper Mega Dega Zombie Invasion Teapot Adventure" or something.

 

[Quaxar]

To be fair, I did that groaning too. But it was because the books we had to read were mostly completely stupid and boring, I normally love reading. I finish a good book in a week and during the week I just read a or or two hours before sleeping.

 

[Marowit]

What pissed me off in school was how the teachers always picked the most dumb, slow readers who used to stumble and tumble over every word like their tongues were drunk.

I would just read ahead myself and then daydream while I waited for them to catch up.

Hey!

That was me! I have dyslexia, and I would always get lost on the page and then feel even more awkward....

Thanks for reassuring all my fears that were running through my head while I read out loud.

/rocksinacorner

 

[CloudKiller]

As a literature student I can safely say that it all depends on the subject matter. If I find something entertaining or interesting I can read it all day and night, if however I find it uninteresting then it feels like a chore. Although that doesn't happen to often as I find most books quite intriguing (provided their not some god awful autobiography by some z list non celebrity)

There's also qutie a lot of stigma attached to reading, that it's boring or nerdy but it really isn't when your reading the good stuff.

 

[Zenron]

The people I see who hate reading are generally people who have never tried. I love reading to be honest. It's one of the most emotional and immersion invoking medium that we have.

Youthful society decided that reading was lame and boring, and people think this without even having a valid opinion of it.

 

[sheic99]

I'd say about the time the TV was invented.

 

[Fulax]

I generally enjoy reading, but the kind of books I had to read at school certainly made it feel like torture.

Pride and Prejudice. Eurgh.

 

[Necromancer1991]

Look the only books that could make me react that way are as follows: the Twilight series and it's various clones, Harry Potter post-PoA, Any book set in High-school involving awkward teen romance

 

[tehweave]

Reading became less popular when radio began.
Then came cinema. Seeing moving pictures were now the most popular thing to do.
Then came television.
Then came great advancements in technology.
Cinema and TV were then in color.
Video games started popping up.
Cinema and TV started using visual effects more often.
Video games started becoming 3D and more realistic.
Then there was a huge internet boom.
And now, you can watch shows online, listen to music and radio online, watch movies and video bloggers online...

It's a wonder that books still exist.

Frankly, it will be a dark day when publishing companies stop working, and the written word dies out completely for someone talking into a camera, but unfortunately that's the way it's going.

 

[Iznat]

As a rule, books they choose for curriculum are irritating, and reading too far into a novel/play/film/text RUINS it.

I just hate how people can no longer read aloud. Or appreciate punctuation when reading aloud. Or emotion. Or when to stop.

I get A's and I know I'm great ^_^

 

[atalanta]

Eh, I wasn't a big fan of a lot of the books we read in high school, and I read like it's my job. We read some great stuff (in junior and senior year we read things like "Invisible Man" by Ellison and "Dispatches" by Herr and I took a Russian lit course in senior year), but we read some awful stuff too.

This being said, if the book was "The Grapes of Wrath," the worst novel by steinbeck, the groans are warranted.

I liked "The Grapes of Wrath" just fine, but "Of Mice and Men" was so unremittingly depressing it put me off Steinbeck for years. One of my friends eventually bullied me into reading "Cannery Row" and I got over it, but jeez.

 

[JourneyThroughHell]

I read occasionally, those occasions being really really rare. Like when I find a Tom Clancy book in english somewhere in Moscow.

 

[The Stonker]

People are becoming more well stupid and they do like movies more less work.
I do love books.

 

[MiracleOfSound]

What pissed me off in school was how the teachers always picked the most dumb, slow readers who used to stumble and tumble over every word like their tongues were drunk.

I would just read ahead myself and then daydream while I waited for them to catch up.

Hey!

That was me! I have dyslexia, and I would always get lost on the page and then feel even more awkward....

Thanks for reassuring all my fears that were running through my head while I read out loud.

/rocksinacorner

No probs!

Really though, there were 2 dyslexic guys in my English class and they were never asked to read because they didn't want to. No-one thought any less of them for it. Believe me, Dyslexic poeple are not the only ones who have trouble reading... and at least you have an excuse!