FEWER KIDS ARE READING FOR FUN

Like many of you I subscribe to several news feeds that provide info on topics that I find of interest. One of my favorites is called Hedgeye Demography published by Neil Howe. In a recent post Neil comments on the fact that fewer kids are reading for fun these days stating that the share of 9, 13, and 17 year old's who say they read for fun have fallen dramatically since the 1980's and the share of those who read "almost everyday" have declined to record lows (according to Pew Research Center). He goes on say that what is not measured is how much reading kids are doing not for fun but the evidence here is pretty clear in that the time per night spent on homework for teens 15-17 roughly doubled from the mid 1990's to the late 2010's which was the last time it was accurately measured.

Why is this important? Studies show that required reading and reading for fun are complementary activities. High-achieving students do more of both, and low achievers do less of both. But even those that are doing more homework are doing less reading as more often than not homework requires less reading and more drilling and what reading is being done is more often via screens as opposed to books. And, as you might guess, research shows that reading from paper leads to better comprehension then reading from a screen, particularly when it comes to nonfiction.

This reminds me of the old saying that "Readers are Leaders". Maybe its time to think twice about buying that video game for a stocking stuffer and instead opt for a good old fashioned hard cover (or paper back) book!