Have you ever wondered how reading books supported your imagination when you were a child? Have you ever wondered how reading supports imagination as an adult? I’m a reader who goes through phases. When I read, it reminds me of how I am able to envision things that others can’t.
Some people can think of the word “apple,” but they can’t picture an apple. For me, I can pretty much picture anything I think of. When I read, I can picture the scenes in my head and it brings the book alive to me. While reading requires you to imagine on your own, looking at a screen shows you those images and stimulates your brain faster than reading. Screen time for children is not bad, but it should be in moderation. Children should be playing outside, interacting with people and other kids, and reading or being read to. If we want smart children, we must treat them like they are. Their sensory systems need to be stimulated, especially their mind. Children are capable of much more than we allow them to be.
An experiment done in 2023 by the University of York Department of Education showed that looking at screens does have an impact on imaginative capabilities. Watching a screen or images on a screen results in a slower mental process after than if someone had been reading originally. We don’t just use our brain and prior knowledge to imagine something, but also our other senses. A study done in children by the same university resulted in learning that if children consume just images for long periods of time, without stopping to engage their other senses in something else, their imaginative capabilities decrease. What do you think happens when that’s all that a child does? Do they ever begin to have an imagination?
The same study shows that the effect of imaginative capabilities decreasing in children after long periods of time was seen in adults, but in shorter periods of time. Even adults need to be able to imagine, which is something that reading allows us to do. Our ability to imagine won’t go away if we work it out. We can imagine better if we haven’t already seen images given to us online or through TV. I guess that makes psychology a good advocate for reading a book before watching the movie version.
I hope that this allows you to think more about ways to stimulate your brain and keep your imagination. You do it by reading! Screen time in moderation is fine, but how often and how long are we sitting in front of a screen or our children? Be mindful of how you spend your time. Excessive screen time even has the ability to change brain structure, while reading benefits the inner workings of the brain. I’d love to give you some book recommendations if you need some.
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