The decline of teens reading in today’s society is very high. They are too intrigued in their video games, sports, or social media. The downfall of reading may come close to the downfall of education.
The National Literacy Trust found that two times as many children and teens who said that they enjoyed reading in their spare time have more than the average reading skills as opposed to those who don’t enjoy reading. The average for those who do engage in reading is 34.2% and for the ones who don’t the average is 15.7%.
Freshman Lily Shiltz, enjoys reading during her free time. She likes to read fantasy and adventure book genres. Her favorite series of books right now is “Powerless” by Lauren Roberts. Shiltz shared that she enjoys reading because she gets to see new worlds and perspectives that sometimes aren’t able to be shown on a screen. She also said that there is not much she doesn’t like about reading besides a book that is poorly written or put together.
Thomas Nesbit, CFHS’s media specialist, has been in education for 38 years and has been at The Forest for 11 years; he is also one of our football coaches.
Nesbit said, “There are a couple ways reading is beneficial. Academically, it helps for striking vocabulary and for standardized tests. For a personal benefit, reading helps to step back, relax, and to lose stress. Teens used to read for enjoyment, but now they just enjoy their phones. When teens read, most of the time it is for class, but not many kids come to me and genuinely want a book. I don’t know how to get reading to be popular again. It saddens me that teens don’t want a book anymore.”
Why are teens so much more interested in technology than reading? Teens are more interested in what is on their phones rather than increasing their IQ. Teenagers are far more concerned with what is popular and how they appear to society.
It is very obvious that teens are more intrigued in social media now than it was 10 years ago. When COVID spread across the world, creating videos and posting them became a norm, and the desire to read became non-existent.
Ann Twigg, a Creative Writing teacher and The Prowler advisor, has been in the classroom for 37 years.
“I grew up an avid reader and was the girl who would dive into a book under the covers with a flashlight after bedtime. My children became readers at a young age (they are now in their 30s) and still continue to always have a book by their beds. Social media and technology advancements were in the beginning stages when they were younger, so it helped that technology didn’t get in the way of their love of reading. Technology gives people instant gratification, which has replaced the rich rewards of escaping to other worlds in books. I hate that our society is drowning in technology, which I feel has majorly caused the decline in reading,” shared Twigg.
Whether through schools, communities, or personal habits, the commitment to reading must be renewed. Reversing this trend doesn’t require abandoning the digital world but rather reclaiming the time for meaningful reading.
