Due to Facebook, people’s attention spans are diminishing, which is harmful to both individuals and society. The remedy lies in reading books. Book reading aids the development of thought and imagination.
These remarks were made by Professor Dr. Bidhan Ranjan Roy Poddar, Advisor to the Ministry of Primary and Mass Education, while speaking as the chief guest at a seminar titled “The Role of Libraries in Reforming the State” organized by the United Library Movement at the Microbiology Department Auditorium of Dhaka University on Saturday.
Emphasizing the importance of book reading as a solution to the decline in attention caused by Facebook, he said that reading books fosters empathy in people. Constitutional reforms or any kind of reform will not be fruitful unless there is a transformation in people. If individuals cannot be reformed, no real progress can be made. Through the reformation of people, the state can be reformed.
The advisor further stated that libraries have the power to reform people. Through reading and the cultivation of reading habits, this reformation can take place. Often, the reforms initiated in practice are not effective. It is people who make reforms effective. As the modern world progresses, there is no alternative to cultivating the habit of reading.
The event was presided over by Abdus Sattar Khan, President of the United Library Movement. Among others who spoke at the event were Afsana Begum, Director of the National Book Centre, writer Safiq Islam, writer and publisher Firoz Ahmed, and Mohammad Mosharraf Hossain, Vice-President of the United Library Movement.
