How Reading Helps Children Escape Screen Addiction And Reclaim Their Childhood

Discover how reading encourages stillness and thoughtful reflection in children and how books nurture emotional intelligence beyond what screens can offer.

Reading Habits For Children

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(By Kranti Gada)

There’s a familiar sight in most homes today.  We are living in a time when swipes have replaced swings and scrolls have replaced stories, the imagination of today’s children is a tab that's nearly always open. The digital age has provided connection, convenience and incredible possibilities, all without anyone noticing the unspoken rule changes in play, patience, and perspective. 

But wait. The story has not ended. Reading may be the plot twist that childhood has been waiting for. 

Simplifying Choice In Busy, Screen-Filled Lives

Access to books has never been easier. Children can now explore stories, any time and in any location, without waiting for a library visit or a weekend bookstore run. Platforms like app-based book rental service makes reading affordable and accessible, offering families curated collections of children’s books that marry convenience and depth. When books travel from home to home, and when choice becomes simple, reading begins to find its place again in crowded, screen-heavy routines.

The Slow, Steady Power Of Page-by-Page Learning

Books do not pull down, blink, or stream like a screen does. They create a soft boundary from the noise outside. In that quiet, they teach children what, sadly, the digital age often does not teach- rediscover long attention spans, emotional depth and the courage to imagine without being shown what to think. Page after page, they build curiosity, empathy and creativity, slowly, steadily, brick by brick and word by word.  

Fiction Books Sparking Curiosity With Images And Words

While apps may gamify learning, books humanize it. Fiction engages the imaginative mind not through filters but through feelings. Picture books stimulate curiosity through illustration and description, children learn to think and picture worlds, in the comfortable silence that is provided by words.

Parents and educators now hold a new responsibility. Books shouldn’t be positioned as an escape from technology but as a counterbalance within it. From bedtime stories to neighbourhood readathons, every little reading happening drives lifelong curiosity. Books offer childhood the chance to slow down and feel whole again. Because buried in books is the best comeback story of all, childhood has regained its wonder.

Kranti Gada is the founder at neOwn.