In the fourth grade I started playing the alto saxophone in my elementary school band. Three years later I learned baritone saxophone for my middle school band. Another year I joined a choir. By the end of high school, I had been in six different bands, learned to play several instruments, joined two different choirs, taken several music theory courses, and acted in more than a dozen musicals. My love for art started early in my life, my mother is an artist and my father is a musician and head designer of a stationery company. The arts were alive in my family, jazz was usually played at dinner parties, my mother painted a couple of times a week, and my father always seemed to spend at least an hour a night honing his skills on the classical guitar. Both of my parents read every night and taught me to read, paint, play music, and appreciate the arts around me. Their education led me to love the arts: painting, theater and music, but reading books in particular has never attracted me. Reading isn't difficult but it doesn't give me the joy I see others get from it. Is it that reading was not important enough in my upbringing or is it rather that the society around me did not influence me to read? When I was younger I read more. I was infatuated with the Harry Potter book series, reading some books multiple times. I had a great relationship with my middle school librarian, he offered me the chance to read the new books he had put in the library and then I would tell him what I thought of the books. But once I entered high school and my schedule got busier and busier, the amount of reading I did for fun decreased. The graphs in Figure 1 from the National Education Center Sta...... middle of paper ......d which are in line with many statistics. I'm a digital native; I spend most of my day in front of a laptop screen or mobile phone more than anything else. The only reason I get a book is because I need it to get a good grade in class. I'm still involved in the arts, just like my parents raised me, but what I've realized is that the television I watch is not brain-numbing shows like Honey Boo Boo or Keeping Up with the Kardashians, but rather shows that show the depth of character. and development, television programs and films that stand out as art forms that can be respected; television that resembles books. Starting this essay I felt guilty because I don't read as much as I used to, I will give reading a second chance, however now after analyzing my reading habits I feel better about the decision to put the book down and open Netflix.