By Mutalib Jibril
We are now in the 21st century filled with Gen Z and Gen Alphas. This is a time where virtually everything has been computerized and mechanized. We have become accustomed to easier ways of doing things, making the traditional way of life gradually obsolete and prone to extinction.
This is a good development. No one likes stress right ? Personally,I don’t even like stress whether or not it is necessary.
Technological advancements have come to stay and ease our lives. To make our work faster and more efficient.
However, this great privilege is also costing us significantly from another angle. The reading culture is gradually becoming extinct among some people. Many individuals are now glued to their phone, watching video, browsing Facebook reels for hours chatting etc.
This has significantly reduced the number of avid readers among us. This generation is now producing a host of lazy readers.
Nowadays, a lot of people don’t even read write-ups at all before jumping to conclusions. Out of those that read them, how many of them read beyond a few paragraphs ? Out of those that read beyond a few paragraphs, how many read to the tail end of the write-ups (articles)? Out of those that read to the tail end , how many read to actually understand the write-up before commenting on it? Only a few do. You can fact-check me.
To further buttress my view, I decided to revisit a write-up I made with the Nigerian Tribune some months ago. I discovered it has generated a lot of engagements. At the moment,the post has garnered 3.3k likes and 162 comments on the official facebook page of the Newspaper. So I decided to read the comments one after the other.
However, a particular comment got my attention. I can’t help but share it.The comment goes thus: “This is one now think he can confuse us to be leaving our data on even when not in use. I can imagine you’re paid by those network providers to have us fooled ko ba haka na?”
It’s crystal clear he didn’t even read the write-up at all.Or he read half-way. My post didn’t even support the network providers.How then will someone pay you to write against him? You know it really sounds awkward, right? I was not even paid a dime by anybody. It was just free work. If he had painstakingly read it , he would realize what the article was all about.
If you’re also observant on Facebook , WhatsApp and other social media platforms, you would be conversant with comments like: “Please, someone should help me summarize this post. I can read this epistle.”
“Abeg make someone read this post and drop a summarized voice note.” This is also common among students.These are the set of people that end up commenting out of point in most cases.
This is just a fragment of what you should always anticipate as a writer. You should be ready for criticisms. You should be ready for absurd comments . You should be ready for attacks and counter-attacks from people that barely read and digested what you’ve written.
All of us can’t think the same way. We’re entitled to our opinions. We see things from different perspectives. But this isn’t not a yardstick to not read,understand and digest articles before commenting.
You should at least be well informed before taking sides.
Therefore, as a writer, always endeavor to wear your bulletproof jackets before you write something. This is just for you to be able to withstand and of course shield yourself from the ballistic missiles you might receive from people. Lol.
In a nutshell, it’s pertinent to always read to the end of articles, digest the contents of articles before we make conclusions and possibly make comments and take sides.How sure am I that 5 people will even read to the end of this write-up?
Let’s revive our reading culture. Let’s broaden our horizons by reading articles not just books related to our fields.