THIS VS THAT
READ THE BOOK
When it comes to reading the book vs watching the movie, reading has to win hands down. If you want to actually do something with your life, that is. If your ultimate ambition is to veg out and burn through your brain cells one by one while you perfect the ass-shaped dent in your couch then sure, watch the movie.
Reading improves your life. And it’s not just English lecturers trying to sell you on ENGLI100 saying that, it’s real, proper science. With MRIs and brain scans and shit.
Reading will:
– strengthen your brain (smarter)
– make you more empathetic (nicer)
– improve your vocab (flexer)
– prevent cognitive decline (smarter longer)
– reduce stress (calmer)
– help you sleep better (awake-er)
– alleviate symptoms of depression (happier)
It’s kind of a no brainer. And it actually doesn’t matter what you read, as long as you’re reading. If you want to read 50 Shades, or your grandma’s well-thumbed Barbara Cartland romances, no-one’s going to judge you. Okay, that’s a lie, they totally are. But you can feel smug in the knowledge that it’s better for your brain than binge-watching Tiger King.
Unlike many other things that are good for you, like burpees and eating salad, reading is actually fun! A well-written book will take you out of yourself and into a whole new world – which is particularly useful in this time of staying the fuck at home. Armchair travel via book-reading has the thumbs up from NZ’s mum, Jacinda.
Whether you like comics and graphic novels, audiobooks, young adult paranormal romance or James Joyce, reading will make you a better person.
So next time your hand twitches towards your phone for a mindless scroll through your mate’s dodgy insta feed, try picking up a book instead. Your brain will thank you for it.
SHOW ME THE MOVIE
For this argument to work, we’re all going to have to admit one thing; we’re a little bit self-entitled. But it’s not completely our fault! The beauty of being a millennial is that we can look at all the boomers of the world and follow in their footsteps and just blame someone else. So that’s what I’m going to do, and I blame you… world.
The advances in technology these days are crazy and it’s happening so rapidly. Everything is so readily available at our fingertips and we want it all instantly. It’s turning us all into impatient and demanding pricks. Need to shop? Go online. Wanna hook-up? Swipe right. Need to see the next episode? Just stay in bed and binge-watch it like the slob you are! (@myself).
Which leads me to the point of this whole argument; we don’t have time to read books. We need it summarised, we need bright lights on a big screen and see hot people acting. Reading eats away at the precious time we do have and we need all the time we can get. Like for slaving away to afford a house and solve climate change to save the planet and buy us just a little bit more time – thanks again, boomers.
But above all this, reading is just… boring. I had the novel ‘Room’ sitting in my car for the last 6 years, to read, but then Netflix uploaded the movie version of it and now I don’t need to. I’ve saved myself a few hours to do whatever, like write arguments in Nexus. And to be fair, if there was a movie version of this article I’d tell you not to even bother reading this. I wouldn’t even be mad.
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