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Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

finance.yahoo.com

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Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#31

Post by jwrallie »

zug_zug wrote: post #5

Well for whatever it's worth, I feel like I understand why. At least when I was in school, nobody really made a very persuasive case for why reading was important (which I think it is) and I'd routinely get assigned books like Animal Farm or whatever and be told like "Spend X hours reading this thing and learn some profound lesson about life." And I'd just be like, "What? This book cannot prove anything, other than o…

It’s just the context. I grew up in a different culture and we all hated being forced to read at school, just different books.

I enjoyed reading Animal Farm but it was something I picked up by myself, and read on my own terms.

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#32

Post by foldr »

gjvc wrote: post #12
zug_zug wrote: post #5

Well for whatever it's worth, I feel like I understand why. At least when I was in school, nobody really made a very persuasive case for why reading was important (which I think it is) and I'd routinely get assigned books like Animal Farm or whatever and be told like "Spend X hours reading this thing and learn some profound lesson about life." And I'd just be like, "What? This book cannot prove anything, other than o…

Dunno why this is being downvoted. Animal Farm is a commentary / allegory on communism. Teaching it to young minds who have not experienced the difference between the realities of communism and the rest is a vanity at best.

One of the main reasons to encourage kids to read fiction is to expose them to stories outside their current experience. We don't get kids to read Treasure Island because they can inherently relate to a story about 18th century pirates.

While it's true that the finer political nuances of Animal Farm are likely to be lost on most children, it's a perfectly comprehensible story in its own right, and it needn't be read narrowly as an allegory about Communism per se.

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#33

Post by bluGill »

hgomersall wrote: post #28
gjvc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno why this is being downvoted. Animal Farm is a commentary / allegory on communism. Teaching it to young minds who have not experienced the difference between the realities of communism and the rest is a vanity at best.

It's also a story, and quite an enjoyable and well written one at that. My 8 year old son enjoyed being read it.

As I recall about half my class enjoyed it, and half hated it. I have nothing wrong with you being in the half that liked it. However I remain in the half that didn't like it.

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#34

Post by hackyhacky »

bluGill wrote: post #26
hackyhacky wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This book cannot prove anything, other than one person's opinion on history You've misunderstood the purpose. Fiction was not ever intended to achieve scientific goals, i.e. to discover the truth about our universe. It's intended to be thought-provoking, i.e. to inspire questions about our universe. You need the question before you can find the answer.

Problem is that book is based on so many things that we know are untrue about humans in general that it is hard to take any questions it provokes seriously. I can accept the impossible for the fun of it, but when something is impossible I don't take is serious. And it wasn't a good book in general.

> Problem is that book is based on so many things that we know are untrue about humans

Which parts specifically of Animal Farm are untrue? Greed, hypocrisy, cruelty, avarice? Or the talking animals?

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#36

Post by 123-2dsh »

zug_zug wrote: post #5

Well for whatever it's worth, I feel like I understand why. At least when I was in school, nobody really made a very persuasive case for why reading was important (which I think it is) and I'd routinely get assigned books like Animal Farm or whatever and be told like "Spend X hours reading this thing and learn some profound lesson about life." And I'd just be like, "What? This book cannot prove anything, other than o…

Every human organization degrades into Animal Farm. It is just most obvious in communism.

Every software developer above 35 has been in an org run by the pigs. You don't need a study. It is literally a profound lesson about life.

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#37

Post by anonthrownaway »

How are we to take arguments for teen literacy seriously when they ubiquitously use "screens" as a pejorative?

I had a 12 year old nephew ask me why I was reading while on vacation. I sent him a link to this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed_86qgvSp8

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#39

Post by hackyhacky »

gjvc wrote: post #12
zug_zug wrote: post #5

Well for whatever it's worth, I feel like I understand why. At least when I was in school, nobody really made a very persuasive case for why reading was important (which I think it is) and I'd routinely get assigned books like Animal Farm or whatever and be told like "Spend X hours reading this thing and learn some profound lesson about life." And I'd just be like, "What? This book cannot prove anything, other than o…

Dunno why this is being downvoted. Animal Farm is a commentary / allegory on communism. Teaching it to young minds who have not experienced the difference between the realities of communism and the rest is a vanity at best.

> Teaching it to young minds who have not experienced the difference between the realities of communism and the rest is a vanity at best.

So, we shouldn't learn about history until we experience it ourselves? Seems like that would eliminate, uh, most of history.

I haven't experienced the harsh realities of the Cretaceous period but I still like reading about dinosaurs.

Re: Teen reading slumps to worst this century due to surge in screen time

#40

Post by stonogo »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #20
stonogo wrote: post #16

Same category error as always. "Screen time" is meaningless noise. They could be spending eight hours a day in the Kindle app reading classics. A good-faith study would evaluate what the kids are doing, not the tools they're using to do it.

If they were addicted to their Kindles then why did their reading score drop?

Great question! It's a shame these studies don't investigate that, and instead stop at "phones are making kids stupid."
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