Why is there a loss of interest in reading?

[bazarov]

I agree. But generally I think reading has never been at the forefront of 'trends' or habits of the 9-20-something age group. Not enough instant gratification (If one reads too much they can get labeled 'weird' or anti-social by their parents or peers )

Good point! My friend told me once: Go and ask your imaginary friends! Before 10 years, It could hurt me...

[Demona]

At least LitNet allows people who do enjoy reading communicate. 8) I think the decline in the popularity of reading can be observed not only in California or the States, but all over the world. I tottally agree with the abovementioned ideas that people want to get information fast. Цell, nothing to do really, we can't blame them...can we?

[andave_ya]

You said it, Neo. It's awfully disappointing. You can't even get people to enjoy reading aloud, to pretend vaguely that they are actors. I love it when my mom lets me read something out of a book to her. I'm not an actress, but usually when I read out loud I'm comfortable with the characters; they have a voice of their own, and I try to project that in my reading aloud. Not to mention, there is the joy of sharing something memorable.

Yeah, sometimes reading can be a difficult. My favorite series of books is difficult to read. Whenever I read it, I feel like I have to roll up my sleeves and get to work, but it is seriously gratifying, regardless of work.

Anyway, my "imaginary friends" play a large part in my life still. They aren't Johnny and Susie and Lily anymore though, they're "Lord Peter," "Harriet" "Dorothy L. Sayers" (she's an author, though), the Lord of the Rings characters, etc. Thankfully, I don't need to say anything in their defense. They can stand on their own two feet.

[Silvia]

I have always read a lot since I was very young, and this really helped me with the school and relationships at large.Books give ideas to think of, they build your creativity, they teach you how to express yourself while speaking or writing....But all my friends and classmates (well, not all of them, but most of them) didn't like books at all.
I have to admit that now that I'm attending high school I read much less than before, because we are loaded with homework and tests....

Anyway, I think the loss of interest in reading depends a lot on the kind of person you are. I myself remember I started reading with Paperino(Donald Duck), because I wanted to. And then I started asking my parents for books to read, because I felt like it.
While my best friend, who has been attending my same schools since we were 3 years old, couldn't even finish the first book of Harry Potter (which I like and find quite entertaining).....that's because she has a lot of interests but she doesn't like reading!
So,I guess this is the point.

[lavendar1]

I teach high school and it's terrifying how little the kids read. One look at their written expression immediately reveals that they've read very, very little. There's a lot of factors behind the decline in reading, but I think the primary one is that it's "work" - at least in terms of what it requires your brain to do. A good chunk of "screen entertainment" does not require your head to work like reading. In fact, reading is probably one of the most congnitively demanding things you can do. For practiced readers, reading may not seem like that much work - but for amatures? Yeah, it's tough. I'm really concerned because literacy is disappearing from our culture - kids don't have that catalogue of ideas and expressive tools that earlier generations had.

The end is near: repent (or better yet, read).

I teach high school English, too, and I'm pretty new at it; still, I can't believe how poorly some of the students read. And their comprehension? That's another horror story. There have been alot of viable reasons put forth here about why it's so (I think it has alot to do with our society's insatiable need for immediate gratification -- and reading is something that has to be stewed over a little bit, so it just doesn't fit), but anyway, the bigger question is: What are we going to do about it?

Forget just reading literature -- many of these students CAN'T and DON'T read anything. In my opinion, it's a national crisis. How can anyone hope to live a 'normal' (perhaps that's a poor word choice) life if they can't even read?

We read aloud often in my classes, I offer strategies for different types of/reasons for reading, and I check comprehension as much as is possible - with all the other things I'm required to do. Somehow, though, it's just not enough. I get so concerned about this...

[Cherubino]

I think that the love for reading has to start at an early age. I've always loved reading, and other people I know who have also read since infancy, seemingly, either still read a lot or would like to do so. If kids found good literature and enjoyed it, there'd probably be a lot more readers today.

Agreeing with most of the folks here, it really is discouraging to have already read most of the books I'll be reading in my senior year of high school (I'm currently a junior), while all my classmates read Sparknotes while muttering about how stupid a book is.

[Adudaewen]

I think a lot of it has to do with Americans especially being so damned addicted to sound bytes, cell phones, texting (cant even be bothered to spell out the words or use proper grammar), magazines, and trashy romance novels. I mean, we want it, and we want it now, and we don't want to have to think too hard about it. It's depressing. I think a lot of it goes back to the "No Child Left Behind" movement. I mean we have dummied down our curriculum to the point that if you have a workable brain, you never get challenged. My friends used to think I was crazy. I mean how can a person read for pleasure, ugh! Unthinkable. Television and I hate to say the Internet have made our attention spans less and less. People don't want to have to work for intelligence anymore. They want it at the end of a search engine or in "easily digestible" forms like talk shows and dramadies. It's scary. Also I think that we have let our minds turn to mush, because we cannot retain information anymore. One of my former co-workers, a girl of 16 years couldn't even tell me who the president of the United States was, or who gave the classic "Four score and twenty years ago" speech. It's embarassing what our school system has done to American kids.

[Bebbin]

This problem upsets me as well. I'm in high school, and I know almost no one who enjoys reading books or even anything anymore (aside from the teachers). There isn't even a Lit Club or a Book Club in my high school, and that should say a lot.

For the most part, I think that the loss of interest in reading nowadays, especially in my generation, could be attributed to the fact that we're basically living at a technological age. People want to obtain and do things faster without having to work much, and the faster the better. It seems as if if time and effort and brain cells are needed to accomplish a task (as in reading), people either abandon it or search for a faster alternative. Take sparknotes.com for example. The site provides all you need to know summaries and analysis on certain books, and frankly, it's the easy way out for my fellow classmates who are too lazy to read in English class.

If the decline in reading continues, the future of my generation is going to rot.

[Adudaewen]

As my philosophy teacher once told me "If you want to be a rebel, forget the drugs, just read"

[ClaesGefvenberg]

Very interesting discussion.

Most people i know consider reading as a boring habit. A reason for this i believe is that they have identified reading with school.

I think you hit the nail on the head there. Schools all over the world often make that same mistake: They try to force feed the students with literature (as well as many other things), instead of sparking interest and enthusiasm... I can remember a school mate of mine saying: "Oh no, here comes another book. It's not that I mind reading the thing, but why can't they just let us read it for the sake of reading, without all those tests to prove that we understood it right when we're done?". In spite of being a keen reader myself I have no problem understanding what he meant: Force feeding is not likely to spurn an apetite, is it?

Also I would add that reading isn't perceived as "cool" now a days.

I don't think it ever was... How many of you have been sneered at as "bookworms"? I certainly have. Doubtless, you also know that readers are boring, have no friends (which is why we have to resort to reading), and generally no life.

My friends used to think I was crazy. I mean how can a person read for pleasure, ugh! Unthinkable.

You got it. I once told a person about how much I read and how much I like it. She just looked at me and said "God, your life must be boring"... She actually felt pity! But look at it this way: If you are not a reader - How could you possibly fathom what those of us who do read experience? It's like describing colour to someone who was born blind!

As my philosophy teacher once told me "If you want to be a rebel, forget the drugs, just read"

What a thoroughly insightful comment... I can only agree.

/Claes

[ennison]

Schools are probably in an invidious situation. They have to produce literate people so I guess they over test understanding. However if the breakthrough to literacy comes early in a child's life then there is no reason why even the 'drudgery' of school literature cannot be enjoyed. For then it is no longer drudgery but ever expanding enlightenment.
Parents should read to their children. We were brought up in a Sabbatarian household and between church services consumed literature like little piranhas - all of us and that has stayed with us no matter what walk of life we found ourselves in.

[melissapurcell]

It really is sad that more people do not enjoy reading. What is even sadder to me is when adults pass on their aversion to reading to the younger generation. Several people have told my children that they hate reading and that they see no reason to do it. This doesn't help me in my quest to get my children to enjoy reading...not to mention that they have to do it for school. It's really hard to get them to read just for enjoyment

[Adudaewen]

Parents should read to their children.

I totally agree. My mom used to read to us every night, from books like Black Beauty, Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Hobbit, and scores of others. She also made it a really big deal to go to the library. We went twice a month, and I remember looking forward to it so much that I was literally shaking with anticipation when we pulled up in front of the library. I hope to pass that love on to my kids.

[Jean-Baptiste]

I have just a couple of things to add; there are some very good points in this discussion. I wonder what effect the misconception that we are living in "the information age" has on the reading of good books. I say misconception because I've heard countless times that everything a person could possibly want to know can be found online, or on tv, or in some other easily digestible form of media, and this is simply not true. There are myriads of books that are not to be found online, whether for the reason that they are under copyright, or that they simply have not yet been transcribed, and these all contain incredibly valuable information, not to mention entertainment, that is just not available anywhere else. Yes, I agree with the point made in several posts that we demand information fast, but I think this idea that everything is indeed at our fingertips also contributes to the view that discounts the value of reading.
I'd also like to say that I was totally appalled, when I started college, at the number of entering students who actually could not read. I've taken a number of English type courses, and they all require some bit of reading out loud, and it's just amazing to me when a college student stumbles over every other word, sounding out countless words, and mispronouncing a majority of them, or simply gives up half way through a large word. I don't understand it. I know I'm attending a back-water college, but come on! This definitely is a problem.

[Virgil]

There never have been all that many people who enjoyed reading. There are many alternatives, and humans are desiged to take in words by hearing more than by seeing, so auditory stimulations is more popular.

I agree. But generally I think reading has never been at the forefront of 'trends' or habits of the 9-20-something age group. Not enough instant gratification (If one reads too much they can get labeled 'weird' or anti-social by their parents or peers )

I agree with Peter and Logos. What makes people think there has been a decline in reading? Is there some statistic out there that says this? When I was growing up, I was the odd ball that read. Most others didn't except for school.