As World Book Day comes round once again, it seems harder than ever to find space in London to escape into a good book.
One of the last bastions of freedom in this modern, technological world is a place that is widely derided. It’s “always delayed”; “too cramped”; or “so hot in here”. But you know what? It’s one of my favourite places to go. Of course, I am talking about the London Underground.
A place where, however long your commute is, you can escape from modern technology. A place where you can get your book out, or the morning paper, and know you won’t be distracted by that dreaded vibration. Except, as of this month, you can’t.
No, Transport for London had to go and ruin it for everyone. 4G will be coming to the Jubilee Line this month, in what marks the start of the London Underground getting full internet coverage.
Now, rather than seeing someone reading their book and thinking “doesn’t that sound great?”, you’ll see selfies everywhere. You’ll see the constant over-deliberation of someone trying to choose the perfect Instagram filter. Anyone who witnesses a fellow commuter recording a “TikTok” video has my condolences.
It seems now that people – especially young teens* – are under immense pressure to do these types of activities rather than reading a book.
Did you hear the story of Callum Manning last week? The 13-year-old schoolboy from South Shields created the Instagram account @cals_book_account to write reviews of his favourite reads. And, in a sign of our times, he was bullied by a group of fellow schoolkids for this, who set up a WhatsApp group to mock his account.
God forbid that someone use social media for a purpose other than posting vain, pompous, phony photos of themselves. God forbid that someone use social media to follow their passion and share their insight. Did Callum not get the message? Books aren’t cool any more! Like them at your peril. You’ll be scoffed at for merely having one in your bag.
Of course, humanity prevailed. Callum’s sister posted his story on her Twitter account and the post went viral. Waterstones offered him a free book. Caroline Kepnes sent him copies of her books to review. But more importantly, they – and other authors – encouraged him to keep reading and reviewing. Four days later, Callum has 300,000 followers for his book review account.
Can’t believe how awful kids are. My little brothers made an Instagram reviewing and talking about books and kids in his new school have seen it and have created a group chat calling him a creep slagging him off about it and added him to it so he could see ? pic.twitter.com/wuuj2XlO34
— Ellis (@EllisLandreth1) February 29, 2020
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has described the introduction of 4G as “helping Londoners and visitors keep in touch and get the latest travel information on the go”. A spokesperson for TfL said the 4G pilot scheme for the Jubilee line has cost £10m to deliver, which TfL aims to recoup from commercial partners operating the system. They added that delivering connectivity “is extremely challenging”.
If that’s the case, why bother? Can we not just accept, and even enjoy, being in a place where your smartphone may as well be redundant? Instead – and I know this is a huge ask – we could dive into a new book.
*I, in case you are wondering, am 25, rather than the 80-year-old you imagined.
Written by Issac Peltz
