Young Adults Not Reading

[readertim109]

Conventional wisdom has it that teenagers don't read because they're too busy. Only after high school, sometime midway through college, do young adults reconnect with their childhood love of reading and make books their partners for life. I don't think so anymore. The 2004 Reading at Risk report by the National Endowment for the Arts concluded that literary reading was in serious decline on all fronts, especially among the youngest adults, ages 18 to 24, whose rate of decrease was 55 percent greater than that of the total adult population.

What do you think?

[sleepydumpling]

As a librarian, I can tell you that the hardest demographic to get borrowing. Mostly because it's not "cool" to read. That's why we try to bring them in with X-box games, DVD's, CD's, cable TV, magazines, the internet etc. Even then it's really difficult to get them doing anything but playing computer games.

I read as a young adult, but I was a dork!

[DuchessAngel37]

I always loved to read. Every librarian in every library within a 10 mile radius of me knew me by name by the time I was 12. Plus, I read fast, so I was getting new books a lot.

Anyway, I think teens don't read because in school they have to. Even if it's something I like to do, I hate to be told that I have to do it. I can't enjoy it. And a lot of things I read in school I never enjoyed anyway, so I'm sure a lot of kids just go away with the feeling that all reading is boring. I mentioned already that I hated Jane Eyre when I read it in school. HATED IT. Wanted to rip in apart page by page.

Now... it's one of my favorites.

[Tmritz]

Absolutely teens today are overwhelmed. This goes double for those that are reaching for an Ivy League University. The work load is amazing. I have had some College students say that HS was harder and more work. I can only hope they are correct and most of them reunite with their love of books.

[awelker]

i have to say that being a senior in hs i am not really overwhelmed. as of right now i have a pretty decent shedule but i always find time to read. well not right now because i have a really big research project to do but i am still reading.

[notrorygilmore]

I always read even in high school. I did find it more difficult to read in high school than I do in college, but that's because when I was in high school I was in class all day, I was involved with 8 clubs (one of which I was an officer and would spend 35 hours a week doing work for the club), and I had a job. So it was difficult, but I did manage to find time to do quite a bit of reading. Then again, I was an insomniac. I always carry a book with me everywhere I go. I remember in high school I would get upset when I would sometimes forget to bring a book with me. In order to prevent this from happening a lot of times I would keep one book in my locker at school, one in my locker at work, and one at home. That way no matter where I was at, I always had my book to read.

Like someone mentioned before a lot of teens don't read because it isn't cool. It's a shame, but that's something that probably won't ever change. The teenager years are a time when being cool and popular is a priority among the majority of teens. One thing that would help probably a few teens would be if English class in high school sometimes picked "fun" books to read. I completly understand the significance of reading classics and some other books, I really do. At the same time, I think teachers should select some other books as well so that some teens may remember the fun they had reading and decide to pick up a book on their own. I don't know, I just think that may help some teens to read if they realize not all books are "boring" (I say that since I hear a lot of people say the books you have to read for school are boring).

[CollegeReader]

I am a young adult in college and I have loved to read since I was a kid, but I do find it very difficult to make time for my pleasure reading as I am always reading for classes. Many of my peers do not read and say they dislike it very much and it seems to me that most of them were not read to as a child or really introduced to books except at school where they were "forced" to read. Hmmm. I do find it sad that so many people are missing out on something so rewarding.

[sleepydumpling]

I hope that when I have kids I can instill in them a love of reading like I have.

[DuchessAngel37]

I do find it sad that so many people are missing out on something so rewarding.

While I won't disagree, because I can't imagine myself not reading, I have to play devil's advocate here. Not everyone sees the same rewards in reading.


Anyway, when it comes down to teens/young adults not reading? Exactly what "type" of reading are we talking about? While I love to read all types of fiction (comedy, mystery), and on occasion I'll pick up quasi-fictionalized history, I've never cared nor desired to read anything that's aimed at "making you think". Sometimes I'll hit political satire, but that's rare. I read to entertain myself.

A friend of mine reads merely to learn. To gain knowledge, to absorb facts. He reads historical, philosophical, religious books. Not novels, books.

Then there are people who read both.

Who's to say who's reading "better" things?

I forgot my exact point, because I walked away and came back, but I'll repeat something I said earlier: Some people just don't like to read. Do we make a big deal when people don't like sports, or when they don't like a certain type of food?

One can argue that reading is good for you, enhances the mind, etc. But does it make a difference?

I read fluff. I've always read fluff. I've gained all my "knowledge" from school and from keeping my eyes and ears open. I have a genius IQ. I've graduated in the top 10-15% of all schools I've attended. As a freshman in high school I had the second highest average in my entire school. I took my SAT's as a sophomore and scored high enough to skip all math and several english courses when I got to college. I'll concede that a lot of my verbal skills came from reading all the time, but depending on what I do with my life, those skills may not matter.

[sleepydumpling]

I've always believed that ANY reading, be it text books, great works of literature, light and fun fiction, popular non-fiction, how to books, comic books, magazines... you name it, is good.

Reading, no matter what the subject matter, is good for the brain!

[Trinah]

It is quite true, what they say. In a group of about 120 students at my school, someone asked who reads novels on a regular basis. Only 10 teens put up their hand, myself included and my friends. It is sad to see no one really reads because they can't be bothered and don't think there could possibly be such a thing as a good book.

[Linda]

there are so many other things to do i can understand why kids don't often read. i mean i kno theres been plenty of times i've hung out with my friends and went to parties and drank or whatever instead of staying home alone and reading.

[sleepydumpling]

Yeah but you do both Linda. A lot of young adults just don't read AT ALL. I did both too - party, hang out, shop, all sorts of things but I still also always had a book on the go.

[awelker]

i tend to take a book with me everywhere, to work, to families homes, everywhere. i might not read it while im there but i know that the possibility is there.

[Linda]

i do that too but only if im positive that i'll get a chance to read. like if im going into the city (NYC) i kno ill have time to read taking the train or if im taking a long car ride.