Nobody reads?

[ewomack]

The son, currently in 7th grade, of a friend of mine came to lunch with a book. My friend asked him to tell me about the books he's reading - he's currently reading 4 and all of them involve psychology or astronomy. All were pretty heavy non-fiction. His son then said that kids at school look at him strangely when they see him with a book - they apparently tell him that "nobody reads." Thankfully, it appears that someone does.

I also remember hearing the same thing years ago when I was around the same age. A different friend, now long gone ex-friend, entered my room, saw books on my shelf and said "what? you... read these?" and picked them up as though they were an unknown, inexplicable alien technology. I said yes and he replied "I didn't think anyone actually read these things" and said nothing more about it. We probably then played 8-bit video games.

People obviously still read to some degree - the internet still requires quite a bit of it, though video seems to encroach on text more and more each year. But have we slowly become a species that no longer cares to know about something in depth? To the extent that a chunk of the population will willingly read a 500 page book about a non-trivial topic? Or does nothing lurk behind these rumors that almost always rely on generalizations? I know that I hear less and less talk about books at my work and out in the world and in my circle of friends in general. And that trend seems to increase over time. But maybe I'm just paranoid?

Does nobody read? Or does nobody just admit it?

 

[K.S. Crooks]

I think reading comes and goes for many people at different times during their life. Children are often read to by their parents, then begin to read themselves with their parents, then on their own entirely. Today with all the other options for distraction and to feed the imagination reading will often take a back seat for a while. But many people return to reading for a variety of reasons, but I think most of us discover it's a way to take some time each day solely for yourself. This need is not highly felt for many people when they are young, which is where the drop-off in readers happens for a while. Some need a reminder that their own imagination to envision a story is as good or better than a game designer or director.

 

[DATo]

I agree with everything K.S. Crooks has said, especially the part about "distractions". When one actually takes the time to consider: at the turn of the last century there were of course no computers, televisions, music players - the first transmission of music was in 1904 and the first public radio broadcast was in 1910. It is almost impossible to imagine today that the only way the public could hear music in those days was to attend concerts or listen to choirs at church or parlor recitals. Perhaps this is why those concerts in the park in local communities are so iconic of those times; therefore, for distraction, the options were considerably more limited in those days. But one must also consider that though reading was perhaps more popular in those days the level of education was far less advanced. It was not necessary in those days to be well educated (educated to the extent that one could read and appreciate a novel for instance) to hold a job.

The bottom line in my opinion is that relative to the size of the population there are probably no more people reading today than there were 100 years ago ... but for entirely different reasons.

 

[Book Bug]

I think with advancing technology, how children spend their leisure time continues to evolve. Before the internet was popularized, and before the dot-com bubble, there was video games. Before video games, there was television. Before television, there was radio. The last one hundred years has seen some of the greatest advancements in technology during the entire evolution of man. Since children are more susceptible to marketing, young children genuinely follow trending technology.

Times have changed. During the Golden Age of Radio, it was not uncommon for children to sit down for hours and listen to popular radio serials. Additionally, this was also the time comic books were most popular. Since the 1950s, that need for children to seek out knowledge has slowly been replaced by other mediums, such as television, video games, and ultimately, the internet. I would not necessary call them distractions, since all of the mediums can resources for educational purposes, but children have a lot more options for how they spend their time.

Before the Discovery Channel, we would open a National Geographic or encyclopedia to read about animals, or places around the world. Now, it is available on television, and the internet. With the popularity of smart phones, we now have the internet, and seemingly endless information and entertainment, available at our fingertips.

I would wager a guess, that people used to read a lot more for extended periods of time, and people also used to be more self-reliant and independent. The digital age has certainly effected our culture, and how we as humans interact, but at the same time, how we take in information has grown exponentially. We have access to digital books, history, culture, and thousands of other resources. While technology has had some negative impacts on society, I think the benefits far outweigh any negative impact.

 

[Blindsided]

A lot of people definitely don't read, but there are still those of us out there that do. Young adult fantasy got me hooked on reading when I was 10-11. I believe it was the deltora Quest series.

Ps
I still watch tv and play video games haha.

 

[SFG75]

If nobody reads, then why is YA booming? Trivial reading is still reading and at a younger age, it can lead to more substantive reading. You have to start somewhere and what interests you at a certain time can spark interest in other areas. I would imagine the reaction to the young man is more of a cheeky, funny retort than an actual indictment against reading.