When the sixth Harry Potter movie came out, I never went to see it. I had fallen behind in the books, having only read up to five. I really wanted to see it, but I never did, because I always felt the books were better than the films, not so much because the films weren't good (fuck they're great for the most part) but just what they left out was a shame. Unavoidable in parts, but a shame nonetheless. So I always said that I would see it when I read the books.
Then the internet started becoming a big thing. Like, that sounds stupid, but when I was a kid, if you wanted to use the internet you were chained to a computer. All of a sudden there was high-speed internet at uni. I got a job and there was internet there, too. Then computers were eschewed for laptops. Instead of fighting with my siblings for the computer, I just got a laptop and a really long ethernet cable. Then wifi came. I could sit in my room with my laptop. Then phones started getting smarter and all of a sudden you didn't even need wifi; you could be on the internet wherever you had good phone reception. This all started happening slowly from about 10 years ago, I'd say. Give or take a few years.
I used to LOVE reading. My parents will tell you stories of how often I would curl up with a book, whether it be fiction or sports stats, and just. read. But I think once the internet started becoming a thing, I got distracted. I got lazy. I could read... but that's so boring. and it takes so long. and you have to make a commitment to something that requires effort and a LOT of time and it might suck. What's happened of Facebook though? Or Twitter?
Now, I fucking ADORE the internet and technology. It has been responsible for a lot of happiness in my life. It fucking rules. I fucking hate people, usually either boomers or idealistic idiotic young people, who say that technology is "destroying our ability to communicate" or whatever. That's it's ruining lives. That's bullshit. Yes, it has drawbacks, like everything, but a) it's actually improved communication, objectively b) it has been good for so many things and c) you're fucking kidding yourself if you think that people who are now 55 wouldn't have been just as addicted as 15-year-olds are now if the technology existed when they were 15.
But, I will admit that the internet and the advancement of technology stopped me from doing something I really loved, reading, for a very long time. Like, 10 years. (Give or take a few.) And I never really liked that, but I'd try to start reading something and would just go back on my phone. Too hard basket. Who cares.
But in the last year or so, largely thanks to CBT, I've wanted to better myself. And finally getting back to reading is high on the list of things I want to change (other things include stop being proudly ignorant I'm not into film and start watching more of it. becoming a better cook. learning Italian again). But it's a slow, slow process.
My girlfriend is a HUGE Harry Potter fan. In the early days of our relationship, she would often go to relate IRL-things to it like, "OMG this is just like in Harry Potter when--" but I would stop her and say that I didn't want spoilers, because I never read books 6 and 7, nor saw the movies. "I want to read the books." And she would be indignant, like you've had all this fucking time, blah blah blah. Eventually she cracked the shits and told me if I didn't want her spoiling it, I'd have to at the very least watch the movies. I said no, I want to read the books. I want to get back into reading. I want to finish what I fucking started like 20 years ago.
Today, at 5:30-odd PM on a sidewalk in Melbourne's CBD, I shed a few tears as I reached the end of the first book. And I was really, really happy. Reading it was like catching up with an old friend you haven't seen in years, but you hit it off right where you left it. Memories start flooding back and you wonder, why had I stopped seeing this person? They're fucking great.
So yeah, I'm so excited to read the rest of the books and finally finish what I started. Watch the movies again. I'm like a little kid. And boom, just like that, I think I've got the magic back.