Technology is unavoidable in today’s society. It affects most parts of our lives, especially what we do with our free time. One affected area is reading. It is undeniable that the face of reading in this generation is continually being changed by technology. At times, the consensus seems to be that the change is negative, but this is not necessarily true, despite some worrying trends.
Many studies show that most people these days, especially teens and adolescents, aren’t reading books as much as they used to. From a 2007 study in USA Today that states that one in four people didn’t read a single book the previous year, to a 2014 Time article that details how 45 percent of 17-year-olds admit to having only read one or two books by choice per year, to another 2014 study by Common Sense Media that describes how only 19 percent of 17-year-olds read every day, it’s clear reading among teens of today needs some help.
I’ve noticed this in my day-to-day life as well. It’s somewhat rare to see a teen in the nearby library reading instead of doing homework. The librarian at my school gets very excited when she sees a teen reading or checking out a fiction book because it isn’t a particularly common occurrence. Even I, who used to pride myself on my reading level and quantity back in elementary school and was known to get three books out of the library at a time in middle school, have to remind myself to set aside time to read.
This is partly because there are so many distractions out there. The amount of homework assigned to teens is large, with 50 percent of teens 15 to 17 reporting being assigned at least an hour’s worth every night, according an online September 2013 article in Atlantic Magazine. Besides the near constant presence of homework in teens’ lives, there are always sports or instruments to be practiced, college-related activities to be completed, and rooms to be cleaned. However, these distractions are practically as old as the schooling system itself, and the main distraction seems to be coming from a different source.
Technology takes up a lot more of teens’ time these days, with the average teenager spending more than four hours per day online, according to a 2014 article by GFK, a marketing resource group. I admit that technology is the main distraction from reading in my life as well. (I mean, just now I had to tear myself away from wasting valuable essay writing time.) When time-eating social media sites like Tumblr and Facebook are readily available, it is often hard to resist checking up on them — and getting sucked in.
Technology’s rise and effect on reading doesn’t have to be as gloomy as it appears, however. New advances are constantly being made, and many of them can be applied to reading. Apps and websites such as Goodreads and Scholastic Reading Timer can give kids and adults an easy way to track their reading levels, although it may seem like a hassle at first. The rise of e-readers may make reading more available to teens, especially because so many are constantly on their phones. Forbes magazine estimates that there are approximately 30 million Kindles in use, but the numbers are fluctuating every year. It is surprising that e-readers such as Kindles and Nooks are not more popular than they are, but this is likely because the stigma adults sometimes associate with reading a non-tangible book can often leak down to their children. (The fear or distrust of e-readers never made much sense to me personally. You’re reading the same words either way.)
So what can we do to help turn the tech effect around? Primarily, encourage reading at ALL levels instead of dropping off reading programs after middle or even elementary school. As stated by the previous facts, teens are experiencing the greatest decrease in reading quantity, and the focus on reading encouragement programs should reflect this. Schools should remind students to take the time to read, and curricular reviews to find which sorts of literature are best for encouraging teens couldn’t hurt, either. Meanwhile, parents should not worry about investing in an e-reader if possible, whether for the family or specifically a teen. These actions may not show immediate improvement in the amount teens are reading, but they will be worth it in the long run.
Julia Maruca is a 10th-grader at North Allegheny Intermediate High School. This essay was written during last fall’s Allegheny Intermediate Unit gifted and talented journalistic writing and reporting apprenticeship taught by professor Helen Fallon at Point Park University.
First Published: February 26, 2015, 5:00 a.m.