Birds of a Feather

After conducting the reader interviews, I realized one very important cliche: birds of a feather flock together. Individuals that I chose to interview that are my close friends share similar reading styles and habits. We all stay up late reading our favorite novels, trade books once we finish, and anxiously await the release of film adaptations. I often find myself engaging in heated debates, and attempting to play match-maker with my favorite characters. Needless to say, I am blessed to have crossed paths with people that share this common interest.

In this process, however, I was caught off guard by my own technology habits. I spend more time on Facebook and texting than I do studying. The first thing I do in the morning after hitting snooze five times is grab my phone, open Facebook, open Twitter, open my email, and maybe if I am feeling adventurous, surf Pinterest for a couple minutes. I'd say my thumbs need a break.

Ahh, the deceptively hard task of naming ten literary authors. Is it bad that I chuckled to myself when someone would mutter "Oh, that's easy. Of course I can," and then struggled to name five? Yes? Well, I did it anyways. This got me thinking about how much we read as college students, yet we can't remember authors. We are trained to order books, read them, take a test/write a paper, and forget. We are immersed in this constant educational cycle where our knowledge goes in one ear and out the other. Don't get me wrong, I am the first to admit that I have read books three times and still could not tell you the author. I have aced tests that I guarantee I would fail if I took them today. How do we get out of this cycle? Is that just college life? Or is it because we now live in a society of instant gratification and for many, reading just takes too much time? Why read the book when you can watch the movie, right? I venture to say, wrong.