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Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

nbcnews.com

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Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#31

Post by xpct »

nottorp wrote: post #26
xpct wrote: post #23

Question: do you think reading is fundamentally worthwhile in terms of practicality, or is there some other medium that would achieve both pleasure and better information retention? I think it's undeniable that a lot of good comes from reading, and many here would probably agree it's better than scrolling Instagram reels or even watching YouTube videos. Still, reading by itself is just one medium that we found useful…

> I hope this comment wasn't too off-topic from the main point of "pleasure" It looks to me far away over there in the "what's my profit in reading" direction I'm afraid.

Fair enough :-) Do you have a theory for why we view reading, even in terms of pleasure, as favorable? I imagine it's because we see some utility in it over other activities.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#32

Post by altruios »

xpct wrote: post #31
nottorp wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hope this comment wasn't too off-topic from the main point of "pleasure" It looks to me far away over there in the "what's my profit in reading" direction I'm afraid.

Fair enough :-) Do you have a theory for why we view reading, even in terms of pleasure, as favorable? I imagine it's because we see some utility in it over other activities.

Reading causes your brain to hallucinate. Visualization is a muscle: reading is the weights at the gym.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#33

Post by larrik »

It's worse than this.

I have kids in school. Our school system is one of the top in Connecticut, which is the quintessential "school" state (if any rich kid on TV goes away to school, it's probably to CT).

These kids (all of them, not mine) can't really read. Not like when I was young. (I'm not even old! I graduated in the 2000's!) They certainly can't write. They have no stamina to do an essay or a test like when I was a kid. They can't be bored or be creative.

We've talked to multiple teachers who just don't know what to do about it.

It was better before Covid (my oldest's grade isn't as bad), but those kids who were in early elementary or younger when covid hit? Completely incapable of what adults would consider basic school tasks. Even the smart ones who get good grades!

But it's not (just) smartphones and tablets, imo. It's chromebooks in the classroom. School is online now, even after covid, and it just doesn't work in my opinion.

Personally, I'd drop technology from the classroom entirely.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#35

Post by JoshTriplett »

electroweak wrote: post #25

Anecdote: waiting for my childs parent-teacher interview in the library of a mid-range highschool in a large city, I casually asked the row of student facilitators how much they used the (pretty substantial) library. They all said, with emphasis, that they'd never used the library once, not even for a single book. Overhearing this a teacher looked at me and shook his head with resignation.

Did you ask them how much they read as ebooks? Libby is very popular.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#36

Post by 05 »

lawn wrote: post #15
general1465 wrote: post #8

I am not reading either for pleasure. I am reading so much during my daily life (Documentation, coding, manuals, logs) that reading for pleasure sounds like a bad joke.

That difference is like comparing taking a piss and having sex. While you use the same body part the experiences are not at all alike.

The thing with analogies, we can make them go either way.

It's like having sex after a whole day of sex work. Exhausting.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#37

Post by forlorn_mammoth »

xpct wrote: post #23

Question: do you think reading is fundamentally worthwhile in terms of practicality, or is there some other medium that would achieve both pleasure and better information retention? I think it's undeniable that a lot of good comes from reading, and many here would probably agree it's better than scrolling Instagram reels or even watching YouTube videos. Still, reading by itself is just one medium that we found useful…

> Question: do you think reading is fundamentally worthwhile in terms of practicality, or is there some other medium that would achieve both pleasure and better information retention?

If your quality bar is 'better information retention' then reading is going to be hard to beat. Videos/podcasts don't measure up.

'pleasure' is hard to measure, and gets confounded because reading takes more effort than watching a video/listening to a podcast.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#38

Post by nemomarx »

JoshTriplett wrote: post #35
electroweak wrote: post #25

Anecdote: waiting for my childs parent-teacher interview in the library of a mid-range highschool in a large city, I casually asked the row of student facilitators how much they used the (pretty substantial) library. They all said, with emphasis, that they'd never used the library once, not even for a single book. Overhearing this a teacher looked at me and shook his head with resignation.

Did you ask them how much they read as ebooks? Libby is very popular.

Is libby very popular among young school children? Based on surveys asking how often kids read per week I would figure ebook reading is also down. They don't usually ask about the format.

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#39

Post by s5300 »

larrik wrote: post #33

It's worse than this. I have kids in school. Our school system is one of the top in Connecticut, which is the quintessential "school" state (if any rich kid on TV goes away to school, it's probably to CT). These kids (all of them, not mine) can't really read. Not like when I was young. (I'm not even old! I graduated in the 2000's!) They certainly can't write. They have no stamina to do an essay or a test like when I…

[dead]

Re: Reading for pleasure is sharply down among schoolkids, report shows

#40

Post by garciasn »

I read for pleasure; ~100 books a year on average. When I go anywhere, I am reading.

My daughter informed me that the mothers of her teammates were outright making fun of me for having my 'nose buried in a book,' before every event. I asked her if they were making fun of everyone else for having their nose buried in their phones; she laughed and said they probably were not.

Why is reading for fun something that's worthy of negative attention these days but scrolling social feeds is somehow socially acceptable? I just don't get it.

Of course kids aren't reading for pleasure; their parents likely aren't and there's societal pressure to NOT do it and instead use your phone to pass the time.

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