Why Don't Teens Read Like They Used To

Why Don't Teens Read Like They Used To

The heart of a civilisation is in the youths of the day. It is a popular saying that the youths are the leaders of tomorrow. One issue that worries most people is that: "if the leaders of tomorrow are not equipping themselves today with the tools needed to lead tomorrow, how would they lead effectively?" Another popular saying is that "readers are leaders". People have beenworrying about the sad trend in the decline of reading by our teenagers today.

This then begs the question "Why don't teens read like they used to?" Answering this important question would be the focus of this article.

According to Common Sense Media Research Report, there is a steady decline in the reading habit of our teenagers today. According to the report, 9 year olds read a lot more than 17 year olds. The report states that about 53% of nine year olds read daily compared to 17% of seventeen year olds¹ . This is a very dismal statistic. It shows that our "future" as they grow older, become less interested in reading.

However, before we cast the first stone at our teens, the question that should come to mind is what do you describe as "reading"? According to the above given statistic, reading is taken in the context of devouring literature. Whether it is in soft copy or hard copy. If the word "reading" is to be taken in the true sense of the word, are our teens not reading?

If reading is to be interpreted literally without any prior predispositions, it would be apt to say that our teens are still reading. In fact our teens are reading more than before. However, what they read is not the literature we want them to.

According to pew research centre² , 92% of teens go online daily. Also, 56% of these teens go online several times a day. Most of these teens that go online either go on social media or watch videos. There are a lot of texts on social media. Thus these teens read these texts, whether it is a joke, a story or message. The bottom line is the fact that they read.

Apart from going online, the major activities of teens is texting and mobile messaging through platforms like BBM and Whatsapp. There are also a lot of things to read at this angle. The messages texted to friends and the various broadcasts shared on Whatsapp groups are read by these teens. Unlike in the past where most communications were through speech, nowadays, communication is majorly through text via social media.

Thus, teens of today read a whole lot more than the teens of yesteryears. However, the issue we have is with what they read.

This leads to the next question; "Why do teens prefer reading social media to reading literature?"

The answer to the above depends on a lot of variables.

One of them is that most teens view reading literature as a sort of chore. They would prefer reading brief interesting stories to spending hours or days reading large novels. They feel that schoolwork is already enough reading and thus they don't need to read again.

In the past, there wasn't much distraction through the social media or television. Literature, on the other hand has been existing for quite a while. A teen in the 1920s found that the best way to keep himself entertained was by immersing himself in any form of literature he can find around him.

The reverse is the case today. Today, there are various media that are available for entertainment. There is always the television where movies can be watched to pass leisure. If the TV is not enough there are video games available to get lost in. In addition to that is the advent of the internet and the social media. Teens can now enjoy themselves through this means without agonising themselves for hours reading a book.

The human mind is known to naturally prefer instant gratification. It is natural to prefer watching a movie for two hours and have a good time than to read a 500 page book just to get the same enjoyment. This is coupled with the fact that getting information from a book takes longer than watching it in a film.

Reading books is also a solitary form of enjoyment. Only one person at a time would really enjoy the activity. This isn't the case of movies, video games or social networking. Movies can be watched by a lot of people at the same time. This provides a chance for more socialisation amongst teens. Video games can also be played by more than one person at a time. This is also the same for social networking where the activity is undertaken by plural personalities.

In conclusion, saying teens don't read anymore is subjective to the context of reading being referred to. Our teens are reading more than ever, but they are not reading what we want them to.