Reading story books is better for children than watching television or playing computer games. To what extent do you agree or disagree?
Reading books, which was considered as the epitome of relaxation in the past, seems to have lost its attraction to most of modern people. This is especially true for children, who are more fascinated by television or computer games. However, I still believe that children had better read more.
First of all, reading cultivates children’s imagination while watching TV or playing computer games stifle it. While reading, children can stop to ponder the character's next move, the feathers in his hat, or the meaning of a sentence. In contrast, much of young children's television viewing is mindless watching, requiring little or no thinking.
In addition, for young children, television and games are all antisocial experience, while reading is a social experience. This is quite easy to understand. The three-year-old with a book must be read to by another person - parent, sibling, or grandparent. In this way, the child is a participant as well as a receiver when he engages in discussion during and after the story. In contrast, playing only requires a child sit in front of the computer, staring at the screen and holding the joystick. He can do this all by himself, so sooner or later he will be socially isolated.
Last, reading creates a vocabulary ladder for children to climb. There are seas of books targeted for children, and almost all of these books help to build children’s vocabulary as well as language expression. Television scripts, however, consist largely of conversations that contain the same simple vocabulary words, so few gains can be made. Computer games are even worse, because only noise or peculiar sounds can be heard.
In conclusion, although watching television and playing computer games are much more appealing, they fail to generate any benefit for the teenagers. By contrast, reading, boring as it may sound, really offers a key to many successes.
