How The Internet Ruined Reading

     In high school, I was the kid who lived in the library. I was also the kid who loved silent reading time in class and the one who was disappointed when it was over. By junior year, the math and science teachers knew that I had a bad habit of pulling out a book in the middle of a lecture if/when I got bored. Needless to say, I loved reading more than life itself. 
     To this day I still hoard books in every available space, including, but not limited to, the floor. However, I have noticed something recently that profoundly disturbs me: I don't read anymore. 
     Me, not read? Everyone who knows me well enough knows that it's practically a blasphemous thing to say! I didn't even admit it to myself until now, but it's true. I do not read like I used to and do you want to know why? The internet. 
     Yes, I know that blaming the internet seems like a cop out, but I'm totally serious. This isn't just something that is affecting me alone, it's affecting everyone I know! Long gone are the days where we would sit around and read a book wherever we nerdy kids went. Now we have iPhones and tablets to occupy us whenever we decide to step out into the world. I swear that kids these days know how to unlock an iPad before they learn how to read!
     How did the internet kill reading? Here's how:

1. Reading is so old school. Sure the internet is great for getting information at a moments notice, but we've lost the art of reading about it. We don't need newspapers or magazines anymore, we have YouTube to show us the news. Sure it's snazzy and more objective, but what happened to the paperboys yelling "extra, extra!" outside of our windows?
2. Keeps things short. From Facebook to Twitter, we are constantly peer-pressured into keeping things under 140 characters. No one reads anything longer than that anymore. Lord forbid the "see more" button shows up on your status because you can almost guarantee everyone is just going to skip over it. Websites and blogs have caught onto this phenomenon and now we see articles getting shorter and shorter to cater to an audience that is too busy to take ten minutes to read a two to three page article. 
3. It's distracting. There is just too much to do on the internet, am I right? You can catch up on your TV shows, you can watch a movie, or you can catch up with everyone from grade school. You don't need books anymore because if you really wanted to read a book, they're right there on your computer screen.

So technically we ruined reading by allowing ourselves to be seduced by all that the internet promises, but who wants to blame themselves? Maybe from now on, we need to close up our laptops, put down our phones, and pick up a book (says the girl that's writing a blog post).