Phones Are Destroying Kids' Ability To Read Books

Phones Are Destroying Kids' Ability To Read Books

Jeremy S. Adams writes: "And yet we somehow expect these same kids who can't enjoy a simple bike or horse ride to sit down in a corner and spend hours reading a book. Keep in mind one of the most shocking yet revealing statistics in modern educational research: teens are more likely to read a novel at thirteen than they are at seventeen. As one of my best friends recently observed, 'My son used to be a voracious reader -- a couple books a week. And then we gave him a phone and the reading stopped.'... Which brings me to another demoralizing data point in the quickly degenerating mental state of American students. Two weeks ago, Pew Research released disturbing findings about American educators which found that 58 percent of high school instructors noted their students had "little to no interest" in learning. A whopping, though completely unsurprising, 72 percent say cellphone distraction is a major problem."