Op-eds, news reports, and cultural commentary in recent years have repeatedly sounded the death knell for reading, lamenting how addictive short-form content has pushed books out of culture. However, active readers still exist today, albeit with different habits.
The modern reader moves fluidly between paperbacks and e-books. “I prefer physical copies, but when they’re not available, I lean towards e-books,” says Rachana Thirukovela, a psychology major. Murugappan Meriyappan, a Bengaluru-based humour writer who reads EPUBs on his iPad, explains, “I can carry multiple books during travel without having to lug around a big bag.”
Physical books still hold emotional value. “I love the texture and feeling of holding paperbacks. They also allow me to focus better while reading,” says Tina Medi, a filmmaking professional. Sowmya Raju, a Chennai-based entrepreneur, says, “My friends give me books with inscriptions, and I find the gesture very meaningful.”
Daisy, a healthcare professional who also runs a book club, says, “I find so much warmth and hope in words; an intimate feeling I find nowhere else.” Hyderabad-based game developer Suramya Das says he enjoys the “tactile sensory pleasure” of books and reads fiction and travelogues “to steal inspiration”.
UK-based public health researcher Prateeksha Karat admits she loses interest in reading when it begins to feel like an obligation, noting, “I read when I can. That has helped sustain the habit the most.”
Internet: fuelling or ruining reading?
Social media trends and communities on Reddit, Instagram, and BookTube/BookTok have also influenced reading habits. Siddhi Patil, a student from Bengaluru, believes online spaces make literature more accessible. “As much as I think people must read, I also believe literature should be more accessible to people who cannot afford to read because of work, money, timing, and other constraints. These spaces help a lot of people,” she says.
Some remain sceptical of online reading trends. “It’s nice that they’re building community through reading, but there’s something so hollow about all of it,” says Aadhya, a lawyer from Hyderabad, about BookTok culture. Kris, a student from Hyderabad, also expresses distaste toward the “aestheticisation of reading”. They say, “When we make an aesthetic surrounding just the concept of reading, it gets really murky.”
Harsh Snehansu, co-founder of Cubbon Reads, a Bengaluru-based public reading community, says, “The patience and appreciation needed for long-form reading still has to be cultivated separately.”
What next for reading
Shruti Sah, co-founder of Cubbon Reads, explains that readers today often carry reading as part of their identity, mentioning it while making friends, dating, or finding communities. Although she believes that reading has become more social and “cool”, she stops short of claiming that it is returning in a larger cultural sense.
“At best, communities like ours can create a meaningful bump within what otherwise seems to be a broader decline in long-form reading habits,” she notes.