Young people reading a lot less

[nhboy]

"We know what young people are doing more of: watching television, surfing the Web, listening to their iPods, talking on cellphones, and instant-messaging their friends. But a new report released today by the National Endowment for the Arts makes clear what they're doing a lot less of: reading.
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The report - a 99-page compendium of more than 40 studies by universities, foundations, business groups, and government agencies since 2004 - paints a dire picture of plummeting levels of reading among young people over the past two decades. Among the findings:

Only 30 percent of 13-year-olds read almost every day.

The number of 17-year-olds who never read for pleasure increased from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.

Almost half of Americans between ages 18 and 24 never read books for pleasure."

US report says young people reading a lot less - The Boston Globe

 

[vanbells]

Those high numbers are expected. I think the younger generation is fascinated with technology for entertainment. For me, I only read when I'm researching. I never really read for pleasure, except comic books when I was younger.

 

[theArtistFormerlyKnownAs]

Those high numbers are expected. I think the younger generation is fascinated with technology for entertainment. For me, I only read when I'm researching. I never really read for pleasure, except comic books when I was younger.

see, this is the thing though. I've even had this discussion with my mom and she agreed with me that reading online is equivalent to reading a book. Sure, maybe you aren't reading a novel for fun, but that is just not what you were into. Some people like reading novels for fun, others don't, but the important thing is that you are reading SOMETHING that is helping you learn something new. How often do you know of kids reading books JUST to learn stuff? Not for school research, but just to learn. I'm talking past and present. Even in past years, before the internet, was it THAT common to see kids reading to learn? They were outside playing ball, skipping rope, ect. I say that the same general amount of "reading to learn" goes on today, if not even more (because it is so much more easily accessible.) All it takes is finding a subject you are interested in and looking it up online. SOME people may not consider this "reading to learn", but i for one consider any factual (even sometimes opinionated) site to be a learning experience when you visit/read it.

I think that people just need to broaden their views of what they consider to be "reading". I have never had any interest in indulging myself in a fantasy book, but I have found quite a few interesting articles or other forms of information online. Just now, if you read this post, you have read-to-learn IMO. You read an opinionated post but it was still reading that made you think more about the subject and probably gave you or will cause you to muster up some more knowledge than any Harry Potter book.