Reading Paper Books In the Era of Technology Several years ago, I happened to read a novel "Word Exchange" by Alena Graedon. It was kind of a science fiction depicting the near-future world which is infected by a "language virus". Even though I didn't enjoy reading it that much, there turns out to be some points which are still ligering in my mind. In the story, the "language virus" appeared one day, and started to paralyze people's ability to think independantly. At first, people seemed to lose their ability to speak properly, or remember the right words. Soon, however, they ended up losing their mind totally, or even their lives. The cure for this fatal symptom turned out to be reading. Reading while not being online at all. After finishing the book, I just forgot about it soon. But these days, I find myself thinking that the very idea of being cured by reading texts and keeping away from going online for a period of time makes sense quite a lot. Because I sometimes find myself feeling lost while reading and watching materials on the internet just endlessly. I think I can even say that I get addicted on the internet in those moments. A few days ago, I brought a collection of poetry on my way to going out, and read it on the subway. It had been a long time since I read paper books instead looking at my smartphone in my spare time, which made me feel so satisfied and calm.