If you have time for Netflix…

SARAH BREWINGTON | NEWS EDITOR | THE USD VISTA

Whether you want to witness a character, enter a new world, see a different side of this one, or just escape, just one page can trap you. They are something you might shrink away from, something you only touch for schoolwork, something you haven’t used for fun in a while.

A book. Not a digital one, a paperback book. Something that you would pick out in a store, after combing the rows of hardcovers and paperbacks. It saddens me when someone says they hate reading, or that they would prefer to watch a movie rather than read a book. In movies you need little imagination, every detail is there for you on the screen for your eyes to witness. In a book, you must discern how close the eyes of the protagonist sit in relation to their nose, or how wavy their hair is when the author tells you it is like ocean.

In a world where we all claim to be different, to an outsider we look the same. Glued to our phones, stressed out, and overwhelmed. Some might say it is because we do not have time to read. This excuse I have heard many times before, I have even given it myself. But I realized, that if I have time to watch a show on Netflix, I have time to read a few pages in a book. And just like watching Netflix, where one show turns into five, reading one chapter in a book can turn into five or more.

Like TV shows, we can also get wrapped up in a novel, intoxicated by the plot, invested in the characters, and excited by the suspense as we seek the resolution. But the thing that makes a book better than a show or a movie, is that you have the opportunity to imagine it. Readers have the power to determine what the Iron Throne really looks like in Game of Thrones, rather than what is seen on television.

In a book we can visualize the events unfolding; we can picture what that fight scene should look like. A book, something filled with words, has the power to create worlds. Before the Hunger Games movies, and before Game of Thrones, there was ink on paper. Someone sat down to record a story, one word, turned into a chapter, turned into a book.

Dare to be different, even if that means being a little vintage. Pick out a book you’ve never read. It might surprise you. It might seem completely ludicrous, and the last time you read for fun might have been Harry Potter. Beat a story to the theater and pick up the book.

If you have time for Netflix, you have time to read.