Fewer American children are reading for pleasure than they have in the past, according to a new report from Common Sense Media.
The research revealed that the number of nine-year-old kids that read for pleasure once or more per week went from 81 percent in 1984 to 76 percent in 2013. The numbers are worse for older kids. Only about a third of 13-year-old children reported reading for pleasure less than twice a year.
Children who do read for pleasure tended to be those kids whose parents read to them and whose parents read themselves. Those kids who are read to by an adult spend about 30-60 minutes a day reading. So what's the future for our children's reading for fun? My prediction is rather bleak unless more adults begin to exercise best practices in reading on a regular basis to their children. Teachers can only do so much; adult caregivers must complete the picture. Many young children love being read to by their special adult/s. Buying your favorite child a book, keeping books they love close at hand, and having a regular daily or nightly reading time are but a few ways we can ratchet up an interest in books and stories. Who knows? You might love the time spent as much as your young one/s!
(Please see video at bottom of post of the one year old who thought the magazine was a broken iPad!)
On average, kids under the age of 8 spend about 29 minutes reading or being read to, while they spend more than 90 minutes in front of the television alone. They also spend about 17 minutes on the computer, 14 minutes playing video games and 5 minutes, on average, using a touchscreen device such as a cellphone or tablet.
The study, which was presented Tuesday, October 26, is based on a survey of more than 1,300 parents and found that more than 38 percent of children under 8 years old have used a smartphone, video iPod or iPad. And while television is still the dominant media device in most young children’s lives, some kids are also spending a lot of time with these newer devices.
On an average day, one in 10 children this age spends about 43 minutes using one of these devices to play games, watch video or use apps. Though a digital divide over access to technology was prominent in the study, over half the children included in the survey had access to a smartphone, video iPod, iPad or other tablet. There was a marked difference between low-income (less than $30,000 per year) and high-income (above $75,000 per year) households: parents from high-income households were far more likely to download new media apps for their kids.
The study also found that young children are multitasking with their media with over one-fifth of children ages 5 to 8 using more than one medium “most” or “some of the time.”
Child development experts have warned about too much screen time, particularly for young children. The American Academy of Pediatrics, for instance, says children under age 2 should have no screen time at all. Interactions should be in person.
Media changes how kids think, communicate, learn, even how their brains develop, Common Sense founder and CEO Jim Steyer told the Deseret News, noting this is the first such study in six years and that the technology itself has changed dramatically in that time.
"Kids even as young as 1 and 2 have access to this incredible digital and media reality today," said Steyer. "Parents are giving even young kids cell phones and smartphones and all that has enormous implications for childhood. Plus, TV is still the elephant in the room when it comes to the amount of usage; 30 percent of children under 2 have a TV in their bedroom.... There are enormous implications for childhood."
So what's the future for our children's reading for fun? My prediction is rather bleak unless more adults begin to exercise best practices in reading on a regular basis to their children. Teachers can only do so much; adult caregivers must complete the picture.
