While the book fair is on in Kolkata, most likely to record more than 25 lakh visitors as usual, a recent survey conducted in and around Kolkata showed most students reading books only occasionally and spending more than two hours on social media.
According to the survey, conducted by the Kolkata-based Sabar Institute and the Sarojini Naidu College for Women, 35% of students in the age group 17-24 years read only occasionally while 25% sat with a book daily. In the age group 10-17 years, however, close to 40% were reading daily and 30% only occasionally. In the 25-34 age group, as many as 40.6% read only occasionally and only 18% daily.
The study was conducted on 4,311 samples across urban and rural areas encompassing Kolkata and North 24 Parganas to understand reading habits in the age of reels. Most respondents, 50%, were in the 18-24 years age group, 14% in the 10-17 bracket, and 31% were 25-34.
According to the Sabar Institute, in the post-COVID-19, social-media-driven world, attention spans were shrinking, especially among students, and the idea behind the survey was to explore this shift and to understand the impact of social media on reading and, above, all, to bring reading back to the centre of people’s lives.
