As an avid reader I find research suggesting over 50% of 8-18yr olds do not 'enjoy reading' in their spare time particularly depressing!
Part of this is a Q. of them having a quiet space to read, but in part must also be related to #socialmedia sucking up their time & also (possibly) to the way that reading is framed as instrumental (not enjoyable) for #education?
As someone who has benefitted immeasurably from #reading, I so hope this can be reversed
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon If disadvantaged children read least, is the problem partly one of supply? Have government cuts reduced library hours and availability?
@ChrisMayLA6@elysegrasso@bookstodon Kids need good libraries (and so do adults). I interviewed Holly Godfree (librarian) on that topic https://www.darkmatterzine.com/holly-godfree/.
My son, aged ~8, said he didn’t like reading. Challenge accepted. I persevered until I found books he loved eg Artemis Fowl. When I interviewed Eoin Colfer years later, book son asked to be signed was VERY VERY loved.
@ChrisMayLA6 My son is 9 years old and is somewhat reading-resistant. He says that he doesn't find it exciting. I think that rich-media devices such as the iPad have at least in part contributed to this. We do encourage him to read however, and certain subjects and content are more successful than others. @bookstodon
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon Our broadband has been down for a week, and we have kept the kids offline during the summer (travel, we just pretend there is no 4g or wifi where we go). Our eldest reads a lot more, the youngest finds it tiring, but figured out his kindle can do audiobooks. The framing does not help - our eldest stopped reading when she believed she had to write summaries (very brief - which is harder than long ;-) for each book. We went to teacher and asked, but not all parents would.
This is a long standing issue; I was put off Dickens as a child by having to read him for O'level, only returning to discover his power & genius in my 30s.... and I've never got over my dislike for Hardy caused by the same school regime
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon I had that with Shakespeare. I had the same English language teacher for two years running in secondary school. She was totally obsessed with Shakespeare. We had to read at least two plays for our final exams. Being dutch I missed a lot of context (history, places), and couldn't get through Henry IV and another. So I went to the theatre with my mum instead. (not something everyone can afford). I can read it now, after ten years in England and more background. 1/2
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon I didn't make much of #shakespeare 's comedies, until I got to see one by chance in the re-created globe in London (walked past on a trip with a friend, they had last-minute tickets and went in - the atmosphere was fabulous, quite different from other theatres).
@ChrisMayLA6 My school english reading was some of the most depressing and dystopian sh!t they could find: 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Shane, Of Mice And Men.... No wonder I'm so cynical!! @mostalive@bookstodon
@PeteZ@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon she actually has a cheap old tablet we found with the library app on it. Although she mostly listens to books through that.
I wonder if social media now makes us worry about children's reading in the same way that the advent of television did in years past.
In addition to the horribly instrumental approach to reading that you mentioned, the underfunding and closure of public libraries weakened the culture of reading amongst children, I suspect.
@jemmesedi@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon I think there’s a romanticised view of how it used to be too. Reading was never a universal thing. Doubt the numbers were really that different forty years ago.
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon after years of effort, reading him books, quite a bit of audiobook use and eventually when I had given up and accepted my child is different from me 😂 suddenly he discovered manga then all the other platforms web-novels, online readings which took me a while to appreciate
@ChrisMayLA6@bookstodon Judging by my son and his friends, they play games and watch videos. Social media takes up relatively little time, and that is mostly chats with friends.
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