The publisher of Ovation Magazine, Chief Dele Momodu has expressed worries over the negative impact of social media on the reading culture of younger generation of Nigerians.
Momodu
who expressed this worry at a public presentation of a historical book
titled ‘The Nigerian Centaury’ also decried the preference of youths to
profane music that lacks meaningful lyrics, while describing the book as
a repository of information and knowledge about the first 100 years of
the country.
According to him, “Research has
shown that the reading culture is shrinking at the speed of light. The
advent of ubiquitous social media has virtually changed our reading
habits and tastes. Today, frivolities have taken over and readers prefer
junks to things of substance. We are all distracted by Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, Periscope, Whatsapp, Skype, Blackberry,
Linkedin, Viber, YouTube, Google Play, computer game, Messenger,
Instachat, Facetime, Instavoice, InstaMessage, and so many other
application on our smartphones, iPads and laptops. I plead guilty to
being addicted to most of these inventions.''
“The
biggest causality of these modern inventions is history, contemporary
or ancient. Our school kids no longer know where their country is coming
from and so cannot be bothered and wherever it is heading or headed. In
our days at the then university of Ife, Africa’s most beautiful campus,
our dreams were to become Vice Chancellors, Professors, Doctors,
Lawyers, Pharmacists, Architects, Scientists or literati like Wole
Soyinka and Chinua Achebe. Not anymore.''
“The
kids of nowadays prefer to be rappers and singers of profanities and
music without lyrics. Being a professor is no longer seen as a
monumental achievement. What is spectacular is how many fans are
downloading your songs on Apple Store and so on. We use to drop the
names of accomplished authors we have read to impress the ladies. These
days, you have to impress with the whiff of money in your pocket or the
fame or notoriety of being a performing artiste.''
“Who
cares if you are a stark illiterate who has never read any book, we are
in the age of ignorance and the era of pay as you go. In our time, you
had to combine education with whatever you wanted to do or become.” He explained.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Editor-In-Chief, Gaskia Media Limited, Mr. Dare Babarinsa
explained that the book is aimed at filling the conspicuous vacuum in
the nation’s history as the era of oral history had far gone.
He
also observed that reading habits in Nigeria is declining in a
geometric progression, adding that most newspapers and magazines in the
country are circulating fewer copies of their publication compared to
the past due to progressive drop in the culture of reading in the
nation.
Babarinsa however challenged media owners to look inward with the view to reversing the ugly trend.
On
his part, the former President, Chief Olusegu Obasajor represented by
Prince Julius Adewusi described the book as a gift to the younger
generation Nigeria are continually becoming more and more ignorant about
many subjects particularly history
No comments:
Post a Comment