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Deputy managing editor
Reading is an essential element of people's education and careers, and consequently, a nation's competitiveness. But more than that, reading promotes people's imagination and creativity, while entertaining them and enriching their lives.
Yet despite the many benefits of reading, an increasing number of South Koreans do not read books, even in this so-called information era in which content has become more readily available and knowledge has become even more necessary in keeping up with the rapidly changing world.
According to survey results released last month by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, the average reading rate for Korean adults dropped to 65.3 percent last year from 71.4 percent in 2013. This figure suggests that more than three out of 10 adults did not read any book at all in 2015.
The rate is also the lowest since the country began to measure it in 1994. It had been as high as 86.8 percent before falling to 72 percent in 2002, recovering slightly to 75.9 percent in 2006 and dipping once again to 65.4 percent in 2010.
Some may make little of the declining trend in reading, dismissing the statistics as nothing more than numbers. But statistics are often an indication of aspects of reality. As more people prefer to spend time with their smartphones, tablets and other digital gadgets over reading books, the reading rate could continue to fall.
Looking at commuters on subway trains seems to support the statistics. Usually more than half of the passengers are transfixed on their smartphones, playing games, watching videos, listening to music, checking social media accounts and searching for other digital content.
This scenario is in stark contrast to that in the 1980s and 1990s, when more people read physical newspapers, magazines and books. The shift may be an inevitable phenomenon following the advent of the digital era.
It is indeed disappointing to see that people have put books on the backburner as they succumb to the onslaught of the Internet, digital media and mobile apps.
Some optimists may argue that people still read books, saying that print books are simply being replaced with electronic books. But the statistics indicate a decreasing interest in reading overall, regardless of the materials' form. People no longer seem enthusiastic about reading literary works, such as novels, poems and essays, as well as non-literary ones, including academic and science papers.
According to the ministry's survey results, 34.6 percent of respondents cited a heavy work load as the reason for not reading, which is not a surprise given South Korea's notoriously long working hours. Koreans worked an average of 2,124 hours in 2014, the second longest after Mexicans with 2,228 hours among the 34 members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
But working too much sounds more of an excuse for not reading books, considering that people use whatever leisure time they have for activities other than reading. The survey results also reveal the Koreans' growing appetite for watching TV, movies and online videos compared to reading.
Another possible reason for the country's low reading rate is the nation's extremely competitive college entrance exams, which force schoolchildren to read only textbooks and other prescribed learning materials. Under these circumstances, students find it hard to read books for leisure, a habit that they unfortunately bring into their adulthood. Indeed, 23.2 percent of the survey respondents said they did not read a book because they had yet to develop a reading habit.
It is high time to change the college entrance system to avoid cramming and to teach students to read books. Reading should not be thought of as a means to memorize information for exams, but to savor it as a pleasure that broadens a person's worldview. A book reading campaign that involves all members of society may be the first step toward this goal.
However big a change information technology brings to our lifestyles, we should not abandon the habit of reading. As I have mentioned earlier, knowledge has become even more important in the information era, so it is not an exaggeration to say that those who do not read books face a grim future.
The Park Geun-hye administration has sought to build a "creative economy" and to promote Korean culture. One way to achieve economic revival and cultural renaissance is to read books.
Ahn Jung-geun, a freedom fighter who assassinated Hirobumi Ito, the Japanese resident-general of Korea, in 1909 before Japan's colonization of Korea, said about books as a source of intellectual nourishment: "A thorn comes out of your mouth when you never read."
byb@ktimes.com
