New studies have begun to show a shocking result among teens and children in recent years. According to statistics from multiple studies, children and teens especially, aren’t reading as much as they used to.

With the new technological era now on its way, there are many factors that contribute to this, such as a decreased interest, which is often seen to be caused by less early-exposure to reading. In fact, statistics show that from 1999 to 2013, the average number of minutes parents read to their kids has dropped from 45 minutes to just a little over 30. That factor can also translate into school. Kids who were not read to as children were often seen to be less-proficient readers, and therefore, read less as they grow older.

There is also the role that technology plays in this matter. As devices such as phones, tablets and laptops have become more accessible and entertaining, teens especially have been shown to take more of an interest in staring at a screen rather than a book. The speculated reason being just how connective and addictive technology can be with all the possibilities and realities it offers to users, which teens have seemed to show a large interest in over the years. That might explain the booming presence of social media and video games along with it.

With teens taking more of an interest in screens, some have come up with ways to find common ground between technology and books by creating digital reading apps, libraries, and even devices whose sole purpose are to be a digital book. One example of this is called an ebook, which serves as a tablet that gives people unlimited access to all the books they like. The product has seen great success, especially among older teens, though there is still debate on whether it is a solution to the problem since it is still a piece of technology. Companies, like Amazon on the other hand, have taken a different approach, by opening their own book stores, which have unfortunately brought in little revenue, due to the same books being purchasable online.

One thing that is worrying to pro readers is the side effects too little reading could have on teens whose brains are still developing. After all, the immense amount of time teens spend on screens is staggering, averaging out at a total of nine hours a day. Couple that with the fact that too much screen time can lead to worse vision, headaches, and even poor posture leading to neck and spine issues; with all of that, there becomes much concern especially among the adults and especially parents who are unsure of how to solve the problem.

On the other hand, studies have also found that reading can instead help in many ways as opposed to staring at screens. Reading books has been proven to provide many antidotes to mental struggles teens fall victim too, such as: stress, tension, negative moods, and even bad memory in some cases. Reading is able to alleviate those problems by readers in an entertaining story that gives them information to process, while also allowing them to try and figure out what exactly is happening, and allowing their brains to become stronger. Better focus and concentration can be a result of such brain exercises. Mystery novels are especially good at this as they make readers think even harder while attempting to solve the mystery on their own.

As mentioned earlier, reading is something that has not only mental benefits, but educational benefits as well. It has the ability to improve literacy, spelling, and focus as said earlier. These are all attributes needed in order to succeed in subjects such as Language Arts, English, and even other language-based studies such as foreign languages, humanities, history, and word problems in math and sciences.

With reading on the decline in young people of all ages, test scores have begun to show the eerie effect of such habits.

According to the OSPI (Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction) website, the percentage of students meeting the standards in reading has dropped by an average of 5% or more in the last decade, ranging from grades 3rd to 10th. Though this statistic exists, as of lately, books have been being put on the shelves in classrooms to make way for computers, which seem to be more efficient since they hold many tools that books can’t provide.

Though those stats are only from Washington State schools, it is very likely that it is a case among the rest of the country, and even the world as technology continues to evolve and people say goodbye to the old and hello to the new. However, when it comes to saying goodbye to books, the world will just have to wait and see if it’s for better or worse.

Sources:
https://www.slj.com/?detailStory=new-report-shows-dramatic-drop-in-reading-among-teens
https://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/10-benefits-reading-why-you-should-read-everyday.html
http://reportcard.ospi.k12.wa.us/summary.aspx?schoolId=1&year=2009-10&reportLevel=State&yrs=2009-10
http://time.com/94794/common-sense-media-reading-report-never-read/
https://www.statista.com/topics/1474/e-books/
https://www.businessinsider.com/why-amazons-bookstores-are-generating-almost-no-revenue-2017-10
https://qz.com/1367506/pew-research-teens-worried-they-spend-too-much-time-on-phones/
https://www.rallyhealth.com/health/unexpected-effects-screen-time