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A third of U.S. teenagers haven’t read a book for pleasure in at least a year, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association (APA). And it’s not because they’re too busy watching TV.
The research, published in the journal Psychology of Popular Media Culture, points to the continuing dominance of digital media among teenagers. Teen use of traditional media — such as books, magazines and television — has dropped off, while time spent texting, scrolling through social media and using other forms of digital media continues to increase, the survey says.
To reach their conclusions, APA researchers analyzed data from the Monitoring the Future study, an ongoing annual survey of around 50,000 eighth, 10th and 12th graders. The study included survey responses from 1976 to 2016.
By 2016, just 2% of 10th graders said they read a newspaper almost every day, and just 16% of 12th graders reported reading a book or magazine almost every day. About a third of 12th graders also said they had not read a book or e-book for pleasure in the […]
That the article itself is so short is also a commentary on reading.
Now, I need to research what’s happening with teens and social media in Europe and other places.
I agree that the article is very short. I wonder if they considered how many young people listen to books instead of reading them. That is how my wife “reads” books because she is legally blind, and many good books are available to download in an audio format, which is what my wife uses.