ロックダウンや外出自粛のため、いわゆる「巣ごもり」の需要によりゲーム機の売上が大幅増加したという記事を読みました。
外出せずゲームにのめり込んで、ゲーム脳になってしまわないかと要らぬ心配をしてしまいます。
一方で、読書への回帰も見られるという記事を読んで、こちらは少しほっとさせられました。
現実逃避（escapism）には、やはり読書なのです。
If lockdowns have a silver lining it is that people have “rediscovered the joy of reading”. That, at least, is how Nigel Newton, founder and chief executive of the Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury, this week explained first-half profits that were its best since 2008. Book demand had picked up since May as people sheltering at home tired of watching “streamed television programmes that never end”. Yet days earlier Strand bookstore, the sprawling independent bookseller that is a New York institution, had to appeal on social media for city residents to rally round and shop there to reverse a near 70 per cent decline in sales this year. The plot in the publishing world is complex.
If lockdowns have a silver lining it is that people have “rediscovered the joy of reading”. That, at least, is how Nigel Newton, founder and chief executive of the Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury, this week explained first-half profits that were its best since 2008. Book demand had picked up since May as people sheltering at home tired of watching “streamed television programmes that never end”. Yet days earlier Strand bookstore, the sprawling independent bookseller that is a New York institution, had to appeal on social media for city residents to rally round and shop there to reverse a near 70 per cent decline in sales this year. The plot in the publishing world is complex.
(Books prove an escapist pleasure in lockdown. Financial Times. October 31, 2020.)
ゲームや、SNSと動画を中心とするネット上のエンターテインメントは尽きるところがありませんが、やはり人間は活字を通じて想像力を豊かにするもの。
本を読むことによって得られる知的好奇心への刺激は、他では得難い体験だと思っています。
日本財団のアンケートによれば、コロナ禍による外出自粛でで読書時間が増加したというひとは4人に1人にのぼるそうです。
escapism
The tendency to escape from daily reality or routine by indulging in daydreaming, fantasy, or entertainment.
(American Heritage Dictionary)
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