Books are an all-time thing. They’ve always been here to provide an incredible story, take you on a fantastic adventure, 

and spin you in imaginative worlds. But nowadays, books are facing hefty competition in the form of television shows. 

As screens get bigger and our schedules get busier, TV has become the go-to option for our entertainment needs.

 It’s no wonder that many people find themselves drawn to the idea of watching hours of programming over reading even just one book!

To help you understand this strange dynamic between television and books today, 

we’ve put together this blog post with two major facets that outline how books and television relate to each other in society today.

Which is better for the development of children: books or television?

When it comes to your child’s development, there are many different reasons that might make you lean towards one over the other.

 Let’s take a look at some major factors in determining which one is better for your child to learn from.

Books allow for narration on the part of the reader. This helps children develop their language skills,

 as well as master reading easily with little effort. Children can use their imagination to play along with what they read in a book, 

and will be able to better grasp concepts more clearly if they can relate them to real-life situations (like TV can’t provide).

 On top of that, reading requires a more active approach to learning than most television shows require. 

Children will be able to listen and concentrate on the words they’re reading in a book, whereas they may be distracted by television and other factors.

But maybe you’re not so concerned with your child’s cognitive development — perhaps you just want them to have fun! 

If so, we’ve got good news for you: books may lack the excitement of many television shows, 

but they make up for it with charm! After all, there’s something about written words that can’t exactly be replicated on screen. 

Books are often filled with rich dialogue and engaging characters. A TV show will always pale in comparison to the storytelling you can get from a book!

Why are books still so popular?

Books have been around for a long time — for millennia, in fact. Why do we continue to be so heavily drawn to reading as a whole? 

To understand this, we just need to take a look at how we learn from things. 

There’s always something more to learn when we read books than when we watch TV shows. 

Reading ability is an innate skill that’s passed on over generations. 

There’s something about picking up a book and truly immersing yourself in the material that can never be replicated from watching someone else on screen. 

That’s because reading really does take effort — it takes time for you to understand what you’ve read and connect it to your own experiences,

 so the more effort you put into reading, the more you get out of it.

What can we take away from this?

It’s clear that there’s a lot of differences between books and television in today’s society, 

but they’re not all bad differences! The main takeaway here is that both television and books are valuable methods for entertaining yourself or educating yourself. 

Taking away just one medium from your life can cause a large gap to form between the books you choose to read, 

the television shows you watch, and the music you listen to. The key is to understand when each choice is best for different purposes, and value them all equally.

Laura and Mrs. M are students at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. Mrs. M is a journalism student and Laura is an English major, 

who has always had an interest in the fields of writing and media production before becoming a member of the Books & Writers staff! Written by: Laura, “Ms. L,” & “Mrs. M.”

We’re extremely thankful to Mrs. M and Laura for taking the time to talk about books and television —

 whether it’s through a blog post like this one or discussing the matter with us over Skype! 

It is because of people like them that we at Books & Writers are able to talk about these two topics in-depth, 

and be more knowledgeable about how they relate to each other than many others in the media industry! 

 what are two major facets of the relationship between books and television?

Amazing Race Canada: How the Show Competes with Books for Viewers On an average day, 

roughly 104 million people watch TV daily. That translates to 3.2 billion hours of television being watched in the US every month.

 Statistics like these show that people’s love for television is timeless and, perhaps surprisingly, 

in a world where technology and entertainment are quickly evolving, 

shows intended for children can still be popular years after their first air date.