Hoping for a "push" to have a "reading society"

Carrying a pickup truck full of books and stories to the donation site, my friend was full of emotions: "I always thought that I loved my child and filled the house with books - I hated my child and went to the market to buy gifts for him - but it wasn't true."

My friend has been a bookworm since she was a child. Every time she moved or built a house, she always set aside a room to make a home library. Since having children, every week she has added 1-2 books with loving dedications to her two children. The first child loves reading like her mother, has good observation, is smart and studies well, has studied abroad and decided to start a career abroad. The second child is also a good student, but... she hardly touches any books, except for the textbooks she is studying in high school. Looking at the collection of books (there must be tens of thousands of books) with the carefully written dedications covered in dust for a long time, she decided not to keep them in the house anymore.

“I miss the life lessons, the uplifting stories, the life skills, the multifaceted knowledge… in the family bookshelf. But now almost no one in the house reads books anymore. My husband and I have increasingly poor eyesight, so we have reduced our reading. Our children, then grandchildren, have not held a paper book for a whole year.”

The situation of “not picking up a book all year” seems to be not uncommon in today’s busy society and the prevalence of technology. Although publications are carefully printed, on good paper, beautifully illustrated…, reading books is gradually no longer a habit; exploring horizons of knowledge from books and newspapers is no longer a burning desire for many people. The number of people who love books, enjoy reading, and are attached to books still exists, but it seems to be shrinking. The most worrying thing is that the next generation, the number of children and students who love to read books is gradually decreasing.

According to a study published in the Vietnam Library magazine in 2013, "the trend of being lazy to read books, afraid to read books and the "fading" of reading habits of the public" is real. Nearly 10 years later, in 2022, the Center for Publishing and Education Research IPER cited a survey showing that: In Vietnam, only 30% of people read books regularly, 26% do not read books and 44% read books occasionally. At the same time, the time spent on reading books by Vietnamese people is about one hour, among the lowest in the world. According to a survey by the Institute for Social, Economic and Environmental Research on what they mainly use their free time for, up to 41.7% of young people answered that they go online, 20% watch movies, 16.7% listen to music and only 15% answered that they read books. In a survey of students in Ho Chi Minh City, up to 25.15% of respondents said that reading books is "normal, whether or not it is okay". According to statistics, Vietnamese people read an average of 0.8 books/person/year (ie less than 1 book). The average number of books per capita in public libraries is 0.38 books. Mr. Nguyen Quang Thach - the initiator of the "Rural Book" project said about another personal survey: Surveying 530 interview questionnaires, of which 253 were for farmers, the answer about the number of books read was 0. For children, the reading gap with the town is terrible. In purely agricultural schools, children read 0.2-0.8 books/year (in addition to textbooks), in the town, this number is 5 books/year".

Lack of interest in reading, laziness in reading literary books, tendency to read thinner books, “skimming” more, reading according to “trends”, spending a lot of time on social networks…, are realities that have troubled “book lovers” for many years. Because books are a spiritual cultural product, an important treasure trove of knowledge, a great teacher who lights up in each of us an endless source of knowledge, teaches people how to live, how to be human, and strives for noble human values. Reading is one of the ways to perfect human personality, to progress in personal life and contribute to the common development of society. However, when the habit of reading books and reading culture gradually fade away, and are surrounded by useless and toxic cultural products, people will fall into a state of knowledge deficit, language dullness, insensitivity, and easily invaded by bad habits and distorted perceptions.

There have been many studies pointing out the causes of “laziness in reading” in society, especially among young people. On the family side, it is the lack of attention to cultivating the habit of reading from an early age for children. On the school side, the time spent in class (and tutoring) is too much, leaving children no time to study, explore, and discover the world through reality and books. On the writer side, it seems that they do not really “understand” the healthy tastes of readers, especially young readers, to be creative and innovative enough to attract readers. Many publishers do a good job of marketing, but most of them still only focus on publications that are easy to distribute, not interested in works that are “picky” about readers. The space and environment for building and promoting a reading culture is not enough, readers cannot easily find a place to read and learn about books; book dissemination activities through media channels are not really effective; Publishing work has not reached disadvantaged areas that are "thirsty" for books...

These reasons exist at a time when audio-visual technology is developing, people have many attractive options for entertainment activities, combined with increasingly limited time... which has caused reading culture to fall into an alarming state.

Many solutions to revive reading culture have been proposed for parents, teachers, authors, publishers, cultural managers, etc. Many individuals and volunteer organizations have proactively contributed their efforts, money, and intelligence to build and maintain bookcases in schools, rural areas, and remote areas. However, up to now, reading habits and reading culture have not really been formed in families, schools (and society) when the time spent on books (self-reading, self-study) is almost non-existent in conditions where the curriculum and textbooks are still "heavy". New forms of reading and more suitable methods of reception in the digital age have also been noticed by authors and bookstores, but they are still not necessary conditions to "ignite" the "fire" of passion for reading. Reading spaces in many places have been improved, many initiatives and models of "bringing books to readers" have been applied, but the number of readers (especially young readers) has not been long-term. Book promotion activities in many forms such as book festivals, writing competitions, book storytelling competitions, even combining with giving valuable gifts..., but are still only maintained in the community of book lovers, not really a push to create a "wave" of reading culture, like the "wave" of "Dao, Pho, Piano" for recent Vietnamese documentaries. An effective method of "encouraging reading" to build a "reading society" is still a needle in the sea, searching for it forever and not finding it.

10 years ago, realizing the importance of reading culture, on February 24, 2014, the Prime Minister signed Decision No. 284/QD-TTg to designate April 21 every year as Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day, to encourage and develop the reading movement in the community, raise people's awareness of the great significance and importance of reading for cultivating knowledge, skills and developing thinking, educating and training human personality. April 21 also has profound significance because it is the time of launching the first book of Vietnam, "Duong Kach Menh" by President Ho Chi Minh - the first work in Vietnamese printed by Vietnamese printers. In addition, April is also the time of World Book and Copyright Day (April 23), to honor reading culture, encouraging people around the world to discover the love of reading.

Since then, Vietnam Book and Reading Culture Day has become a prominent cultural event for book lovers and the whole community. However, for book lovers and those concerned with reading culture, the greatest desire does not stop at the anniversary days. What is most needed now is a "general survey of reading culture" to properly assess the current state of reading in society; analyze the basic and key reasons why reading culture has not developed commensurate with its importance; from there, have the right, effective and practical strategy, with strong enough "pushes" to develop reading culture comprehensively, from each family, to schools and society, forming a "reading society" as we have built a "learning society" in the community.