Benefits of writing in personal, social & academic life
Arbaz Bhat
Books have been good friends of Humans since the time immemorial. Writing is one of the earliest skills that a man has learnt. Starting from writing on stones , Palms and gradually pen and Paper, Humans had a good friend to share his or her thoughts, ideas and emotions with, The paper, earlier stones. I have preserved similar things that people in the 20th century used for writing, which my Grandfather used, It is a writing pad, called Takhti in Urdu, and Mashak in Kashmiri. In short, humans came across a long journey to finally write with ease on paper with a modern pen. Now you don’t have to sink your pen in ink after each minute to load it. Did man stop its advancement towards modernity in writing, Book making on pen and paper ? The answer is no. Because, pen and paper was followed by the concept of PDFs , Online reading, lectures available about various topics available on different online platforms. Later being the cheapest and easily accessible, people preferred it over the former.
A Book is still a Book regardless of advancement in technology in this regard. World is flooded with Books today. How will a reader make a choice which one to read and which one to not? I personally classify books into three categories . First category is those books that don’t make any considerable impact on the human mind. Second category is those books that can influence the thinking of a reader individually. Third category is those books that influence a major part of the world, that leave a huge impact one the world, for example “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith belongs to this category, this book was a kind of Economic Constitution for most of the countries. Followed by “The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” Book by John Maynard Keynes, the principles and ideas proved to be the major remedy to overcome the Great Depression.
Just like a plot of land, writing too is your property. The only difference between the two is that the former is financial and the later is your intellectual property. Writing a book has a number of benefits to offer. Even if a book is not content rich which usually happens with beginners in this field, it still is an appreciable work. Writing a book gives you financial benefits . Secondly, writers are usually considered wise men and they are often consulted in decision making by others which makes them a respectable citizen. Writing books makes your name eternal even after your death. It leaves a legacy behind even when you are not in this world. Most importantly writing a book strengthens your bond with positivity. When an author of a book is dragged by negativity towards itself at any stage of life, it is a reminder that you are the writer of a book that can bring him back towards positivity.
The Benefits of writing doesn’t end here. Writing has assumed a great importance in Academics too. From class 1st to graduation, and in most of the competitive exams. It is not just about what you have read for exams or how many facts you know about a question, it is also about how skillfully you are going to draft your answer and how and where you will insert those facts you know about that question. Knowledge of less facts can be easily compensated by writing the answer skillfully. However, I don’t mean that every student to score good marks has to become an author of a book first. But everyone must be familiar with basic writing skills. With respect to writing in examinations, I know many students that read from notes and memorise it . And paste the same exactly from word to word on Answer sheets in exams. It would be far more beneficial if instead of memorising answers we understand them . We remember the facts, dates, events and write in our own way in the exams. Afterall, the purpose is to make us more productive.
Limited knowledge and knowledge of a single subject won’t work when one aspires to become an eminent writer. It requires vast knowledge about dozens of subjects. “Rome was not built in a day” – analogous to this example, the eminence over writing can not be achieved in a shorter time. Practising and holding on carries with itself the keys of becoming an eminent writer. Since writing is a time taking and patience demanding skill so many can’t wait and they look for shortcuts and alternatives. I won’t subscribe and appreciate any shortcut when it comes to writing or any other skill learning. I remember a story, once we had a speech Competition in our school. Around 8 students had registered for the competition. When the speech Competition starts, one after the other student speaks the same as the student before her or him. They had the same speeches with exactly the same words, I still remember. What does that hint? It means all of them had copied their script for speech from the same online source and was not their own creativity but plagiarism. I have heard a saying about human creativity, “If you don’t use it you lose it” . Parents and Teachers must make sure that their children and students don’t become addicted to plagiarism. This will hinder their creativity. They say “Necessity is the mother of invention”, when the necessity of students is fulfilled by online platforms by copying and Pasting, They won’t stress on their own creativity.
Now coming to the advancement of Artificial Intelligence to such an extent as I have mentioned in the beginning and its relation with human creativity. Is Artificial Intelligence going to make any impact on human creativity , including in the field of writing? The simple answer is no. No because, Artificial intelligence is not creative, nor can It think like we humans do. Artificial intelligence generates output based on the data made available to it or feed in it earlier. If the source of data is removed, artificial intelligence won’t work. On the other hand the ideas of the human mind don’t need any source of data connection and are always novel. Human creativity is unmatched creativity, and Artificial intelligence can be the best assistant to it. Also I personally am of the opinion that that book doesn’t always need to be in hard copy. One must also use and benefit from PDFs, Video lectures and other things that the Internet offers in this regard. Concept of Audio-books has emerged in recent years, which again is beneficial, though not as beneficial as reading a book. I will conclude by calling Artificial Intelligence and digitization of books as one greatest inventions of time. We must use them for our betterment.
– The writer is a regular Columnist at The Kashmir Glory newspaper, Author of a book titled “Yours Truly” and online writer at Ku Ku FM Application. He can be reached at arbazbomai90@gmail.com
