Reading Equals Waste of Time

Don't get mad at me for the title. That was the result of someone's comments on a post I am following. I've been "following" a post about "Literary Snobbery" (on Google +) which has to do with bestsellers and reading. 

Someone stated this about reading : "Well there is a lot of other things to do with ones time then read. It is a purely entertaining luxury ... " and went on to say "wasting lots of time on a luxury when you could be accomplishing sometime real". I think the person meant "something". Obviously, his writing shows he didn't read much. 

I could be accomplishing something real? Like going to college, promoting my business, photography and writing isn't real? You mean there isn't anything to be learned from reading fiction? I am rolling my eyes with this one. While he might not know how much I do, to say reading is a waste of time really boils my butt.

As an avid reader, I find that almost offensive, though I will keep my opinions quiet from the comment section. I have moved from moderately offended to SEVERELY offended as I write this blog about that comment.

I am wasting my time by reading? Excuse me? 

"it only makes sense to be proud of not immersing your self in a fantasy land"

Huh?

Those "fantasy lands" enrich our creativity and sometimes our dreams while we sleep. If I have read a really good book before bed, I tend to sleep better and enter REM or "dream sleep", that sleep is important in feeling well-rested. We develop a relationship with the characters and their well-being, that then paves the way for us to care about people in real life. After all, we tend to see different perspectives.


Then again, this man is also a blogger and a gamer, no wonder he wrote what he did. I perhaps could say "reading is better than playing violent and mindless video games", but I consider myself too classy for that :P sucks to be me right now, lol.


Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy video games, board games, computer games, and even social games ... wait, do I have crops to harvest ..... but that is a waste of time if we stop and consider it. We're not accomplishing anything real, are we?


I want to know how many of us think that reading for pleasure is a waste of time? I know I don't. I find it enriches my life, soul and my creativity. 


In addition, as a writer, we want people to become immersed in our stories. Without readers, we don't have a job. I just wonder how some of those people would feel if they lost their industry, their paycheck and their way of life?


Maybe I am being a little over-sensitive, but I feel that what that man said embodies what is wrong with the world today -- reading for pleasure is no longer acceptable, is a waste of time and a "luxury". What does this say about the future of readers and writers?


As a reader, I feel like an endangered species; as a writer, I feel like I am engaging in a "lost art".