> The paper also noted that although reading with children is rare, it has not changed much over time. This part really got to me, reading to one's children is rare? That's so sad. My toddler loves reading with me.
I'd assume reading _with_ children and reading _to_ children are differentiated ?
Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
21–30 of 85 posts
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#22It's pretty astounding what reading to kids every day can do for them regardless of the environment they grow up in.
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#23I flew from Detroit to Seattle last night. I used that time to read 170 pages of Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (easy, entertaining read). Though I obviously didn't walk the entire plane, looking around from my seat / when walking to the restroom, everyone I saw was watching a movie.
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#24Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#25It looks like they didn't include podcasts. Given the rise of various podcasts that are basically serialized audiobooks, I have to wonder what the numbers would be like including them.
One of their primary motivations was understanding changes in literacy, so it makes sense they wouldn't include audiobooks (or podcasts).
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#26Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#27> The paper also noted that although reading with children is rare, it has not changed much over time. This part really got to me, reading to one's children is rare? That's so sad. My toddler loves reading with me.
It jumped out at me too. Are people not reading to their kids?!
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#28That was in a discussion with my parents no less...who raised me in a household that had an unspoken "we'll pay for it if you finish the book" rule so book culture was definitely there.
Worst part is my book acquisition strategy has been on point. I have good books. Amazon daily sales are 95% crap...5% daily not crap monitored daily over years = library of respectable books.
idk...as I said horrified is the word that comes to mind. I genuinely don't get how this snuck up on me like that
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#29Maybe it's because of applying too narrow a definition of what contents should count as "for pleasure reading": books, magazines... but what about blog posts, social media? Certainly, that's something people read for personal pleasure?!
Re: Reading for pleasure plummets by 40% in the US
#30Many books are closer to edutainment than practical applicable advice. To a certain type of person these are easier to read (spend time on) than reading purely fiction. And even then it's easy to say you only read fiction that is totally giving you something more insightful than entertainment.
See also many YouTube/Instagram/TiKTok channels and most if not all Substack (et al) newsletters. Yes of course deep diving into at 2am is super critical to my life!