Is this generation reading books less?

[GamerKT]

Yes, my cousin laughs when I say I read, or even suggest reading. It's getting to be a mark of intelligence if you DO read. I know that's a stereotype, but it's getting truer every day.

 

[StBishop]

No. My sister doesn't read books. I would be surprised if she even owned a single novel.

But she reads all day, she reads texts, IMs, Facebook Statuses, the textbooks that she loans from the school.

They read, but I think that books are becoming less popular as gaming and other more immediate media become easier to access and more mainstream.

I still read though. There are bookworms in schools I always occasionally see school kids reading on the train.

What generation are we talking about?

My niece and nephew are still way too young to be reading.

EDIT: Well, my niece CAN read, but she would rather play with her dolls and watch iCarly.

I fucking LOVE iCarly.

 

[ThatLankyBastard]

It's sad but... yes...

...pretty sure I'm the only one in my class that actually buys books for the sake of reading...

 

[SiegeJack]

I spent 2 hours day reading books in High School, so I'm pretty sure I'm beating other generations.

In case You're wondering, this is time spent reading on my own time or in class, not outside of school or whilst working.

 

[Berethond]

What generation are we talking about?

My niece and nephew are still way too young to be reading.

EDIT: Well, my niece CAN read, but she would rather play with her dolls and watch iCarly.

I'm 18 and would sometimes rather watch iCarly than read books.

OP: I guess the above answers your questions.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

If you mean reading as in reading actual books and the like then yeah probably, but if you mean reading in general I'd have to say no considering the Internet is still largely requires a hell of a lot of reading and so does many aspects of gaming.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

No, they read more, just not books.

 

[.No.]

I've actually started reading more. I used to read a hell of a lot, then stopped, and now started again. Well, this restart was a lot bigger then others I've done. I think I've read five books this summer.
OT: This generation is most likely reading less books.

 

[SwagLordYoloson]

Are you talking about books? because that is the only place I can see ground for. With the success of the Internet I think that more people are reading, even more than before. Think, to do pretty much anything on the Internet you need to read things.... Well at least that is the case in Australia, I don't know how the rest of the world is doing.

 

[mitchell271]

In general, yes. In my social groups, no, not at all.

 

[Tsaba]

I'm going to go and say no for sake of the argument, how many times do you stop to text on your phone, or read a text, how about the person next to.... people do it a whole freaken lot. Do we read less books, oh by any means yes, do we read less over all? Maybe, Maybe not, we just do it in different ways, with the billboards, menu's at restaurants, Manuals for games, reading posts in forums, I could go on.

 

[FoolKiller]

Well yes. But this is kind of obvious. When my mom was a kid she was happy when she got a book for christmas as that was one of her favourite forms of entertainment. Now, we have a lot more access to things like movies and games.

I still love a good book but I doubt I read anywhere as much as my parents did when they were young.

 

[renegade7]

are we reading less, in the case of books? Yes. Are we less literate? Not at all.

E-Readers, text in games, text messages, facebook posts, the internet, all that stuff is reading. So no, I don't think literacy has become less common.

Plus, literacy the world over is becoming more common.

 

[emeraldrafael]

They probably read less publicly.

I'd like to say that videogames are easier to get in thsi day and age, so the option between an 8 dollar book and a 100+ video game system isnt as one sided, but i doubt that means anything.

...

I dotn know. I'd argue tehy're reading more, with e readers, but i could also be wrong.

 

[redisforever]

On the whole, yes.
Personally, I just got an e-book reader with 100 public domain books on it, and I've been reading Sherlock Holmes for days. I read far too much probably. I used to get in trouble for reading during classes, actually.

 

[Dirty Hipsters]

People aren't reading less, they're just reading differently. Sure, people don't pick up a book, or a news paper nearly as often as they used to, but as a replacement for that, everyone is reading the internet.

 

[Hides His Eyes]

Can we stop pointing out how much we read in the form of text messages, the internet, etc. now please? I thought the OT was about books. Even if not, I think the point has been made.

Also, reading texts and emails is not at all the same activity as reading books, except in the most immediate technical sense, so a discussion about it seems kind of arbitrary.

 

[Sylveria]

No. I don't think this generation is reading less. In fact I dare say this generation reads more than any one that has come before it. The difference is that we don't read "books." We read forums, game text, subtitles, blogs, news, ibooks, etc. People just like to claim that because we don't have a big bunch of dead trees in our hands, we don't read.

 

[Hides His Eyes]

People aren't reading less, they're just reading differently. Sure, people don't pick up a book, or a news paper nearly as often as they used to, but as a replacement for that, everyone is reading the internet.

Yeah, if that's the case then it's a shame because it's not a good enough replacement. Well, news websites instead of newspapers, sure, but... fan fiction in place of published novels? Not to be a snob or anything, I'm sure there's good fan fic out there, but that's a step down.

 

[SamBargeron]

I would say they are reading fewer books... but they may be reading more thanks to the interwebs. Wikipedia ftw...