The decline of teenagers reading is an impact on education
Andrew Farrar ’23 reads Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris in the Innovation Center.
December 15, 2022
If you are a teenager reading this story, you are in the minority. Statistics show that 80% of teenagers do not read for pleasure on a daily basis. It is no coincidence that the teenage reading rate has declined as technology and social media have taken over nearly all aspects of teenage life. With the downfall of teenage reading, may come the downfall of teenage education all together.
With technology taking over the world, teenagers have all the knowledge they need and more right at their fingertips. There is no reason for people to open up nonfiction books anymore when they can simply pull out their phones and find any information on any topic. The rise of technology has also dramatically affected the amount of fiction reading teenagers do as they would rather watch YouTube or keep up with their friends on Instagram than read an all-time classic like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings.
Speaking of all-time great books, it seems like just about every bestseller has been turned into a movie that either gives the book a bad rap or receives great reviews and overshadows the book. Why would anyone read a book for days or even weeks when they can just watch the movie in one sitting?
Teenagers have also stopped reading because of the amount of homework they are given, including any school-assigned reading. When students are forced to read particular books in school that they may not be interested in, they begin to associate reading with work instead of pleasure or entertainment. Reading books also always seems to take longer when it is one you are not interested in, which is often the case with school-assigned books.
No matter how boring teenagers find reading, its decline could have direct consequences for all teenagers and their education. Reading is a major part of school, and without the ability to read at a high-level students could find it impossible to learn anything at all. From history textbooks to English literature, reading is used in nearly every class of every school and is essential to getting a good education.
