It is no mystery that reading raises intelligence and supports a more intellectual way of thinking, so why are more and more people spending time on brain dead activities such as social media, video games, or binging Netflix shows? Is America’s youth currently going through an epidemic of time wasting?

If your answer to the question above was no, think of this. Fortnite, the most popular game right now has 250 million registered players. A study done by Statista shines some light on the issue.

“32.5% of players spend 6-10 hours weekly on this game. 30.4% of players spend 11-20 hours on Fortnite weekly, and 7.7% spend 21+ hours weekly on Fortnite.” The statistic shows.

Doesn’t this seem like a waste of time? It’s because it is. Fortnite does not provide any skill development and takes away time from things that can be constructive to you.

Doing wasteful things like mentioned before, are things of temporary happiness, but if you want self-development or to receive long-lasting happiness, you should look into things that are more meaningful. Reading has been proven to reduce stress, increase intelligence, and improve your memory capacity. And finding a good book you are really into can be more satisfactory than winning any Fortnite game, any Netflix show, or receiving any amount of likes on Instagram.

Social media can also be dangerous to our mental health, there is no book that can be harmful to health. Social media has been proven to cause anxiety disorders and depression. Reading can help counter those symptoms. Scientists discovered that spiritual texts help lower blood pressure, help calm people with mood disorders and mild mental illnesses. Reading also helps with focusing skills, which counters social media that lowers peoples attention spans by a good amount.