There was a time when I really enjoyed reading books. Often go to the library to borrow books, take special time to read books, to visit a bookstore, especially after Eid when you still have enough pocket money.
There are many interesting things from the book. Stories, points of view, new diction and such. At that time, there were almost no significant disturbances, there were no smart phones with as many features as it offered.
Surprisingly, growing up, the craze began to wane. Even if you still read books more because of academic or work demands.
Reading books in today's era, the challenge is more complex. New can one page for example, can be stopped when the phone beeps because of a notification. After that, all attention is sucked to the phone screen, reading the book is considered completed.
Because of the challenge, many media are transitioning to digital. Website or PDF book. However, activities in cyberspace are also far from reading, except reading simple news which only presents brief information.
Not comparable with the activity of reading books in which there is an enrichment of perception, point of view, scientific theories, or small "debates" in the brain that can foster critical thinking and reason.
Does Generation Z, who was born in the digital age, still have time to read books? Let alone them, we might have been rare. All can be accessed via the internet, although there are limitations.
For example, when there is a school assignment to make a Pancasila history article. Most will search the internet and visit the same sites, which when collected the results are also the same.
No one wants to look it up in a book, type it out or retell it. The ability to write, make paragraphs of descriptions and expositions increasingly unsharpened, even just googling does not have enough skill so that one website page is used as a reference for one class of people.
This was not possible in the ' 90s, or long before that. The sophistication of technology is currently at stake with more and more schoolchildren graduating without a clear vision of life. But on the other hand also gave birth to a generation of multitasking. The gap will be quite high even within the same generation.
In consumer countries such as Indonesia, progress is more instrumental. The phone is advanced, the latest output, but what to use it for? The trend of ownership is not accompanied by necessity, it is even more tragic if having it must be debt and credit.
The pre-digital generation has not touched that atmosphere, their world is still diverse. I still feel how happy I was to have a VGA camera phone, when I graduated high school. How happy to have a device to establish communication despite the limited phone and sms.
The digital generation meets with many innovations, although not many are aware of it. If through his smart phone there are many creative talents can be channeled.
I still remember how difficult it was just to design pamphlets for extracurricular activities, while photoshop skills were very limited, finally designing perfunctory through Microsoft Publisher.
Now that doesn't happen anymore, through a variety of good pamphlet applications can be designed very quickly, pieces of video can be converted into direct movies with HD quality, and so on.
However, what percentage have sensitivity in that direction? Moreover, without a sufficient basis of perception, without a good tradition of reading books, stuck only gives birth to horror prank videos or rocking videos whose purpose is to make money.
More and more substandard content makes a lot of money, and has a lot of audience. More and more people are moneyed without a vision of the content, which ends up showing off wealth.
So worried about the digital age. Books are no longer read but the need for literacy is increasing.
Generation Z, which is one level younger than the millennial generation, was born in a digital atmosphere. Communication via digital, shopping via digital, play via digital, work and study also via digital.
Reading the book is a pleasure in itself. []
Ahmad Fahrizal Aziz