The reading habit

Are we reading less literature now than we used to?
Are we having an information overload but a lot of it is junk?
Are we wanting everything in byte sized chunks, so reading thick, literary works is passe?

As I look around me, it does look like people are reading less books.
There is information overload- emails, magazines, television, but a piece of literature is being read less often.
In fact, the major time for reading is commuting to and from work- and that time, we probably read either the morning newspaper going to work or just unwinding for the day after work. At home, family and television dominate proceedings. At work, everything is transactional- needed for action items, at home, we are either with family or glued to television. When do we have leisure, thinking time just to ourselves- the ability to walk into nowhere, think about what we are doing, read a great piece of literature- have our lives become so transactional that we do not have time to appreciate the finer things in life. Are we so busy chasing them when we may just not have the time to enjoy them at all?

The lack of reading is only a symptom of the instant gratification culture of our generation.
We must remember that reading is not just for technical advancement in a field but more broadly a practice for expanding horizons and gaining multiple perspectives. It requires discipline, it fires our imagination, influences our thinking and values and makes us connect as a civilization at a fundamental level. Coelho's work is just as relevant in South America, as it is in Asia or in the US. That is because it is deeply human and the reading habit connects us to each other at that fundamental level.

The fact that I havent read something noteworthy in the last three months worries me.
I should be done writing and read something right now!