Kids are reading fewer books, but that doesn't necessarily mean they're not reading as much. Many are doing plenty of reading - as well as writing, debating, researching and other creative pursuits - on the internet. This shift has stirred up a debate among educational policy makers and reading experts around the world over the value of digital reading versus books.
Traditionalists, according to the Sunday New York Times, assert teenagers' scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated precisely because of the hours spent on the internet and away from books. The damage has been diminished literacy, short attention spans and "destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books," according to the Times.
On the other side, web proponents claim the internet has created a new kind of reading. This includes not only reading stories that run as long as 45 web pages, but also might include five websites, an op-ed article and a blog post or two on a daily basis. Strong readers on the web, they argue, may eventually surpass those who rely on books.
"It takes a long time to read a 400-page book," Rand Spiro, a professor of educational psychology at Michigan State University who is studying reading practices on the internet, told the Times. "In a tenth of the time," he said, the internet allows a reader to "cover a lot more of the topic from different points of view."
The internet is also getting teens to write more, including stories as well as discussion blogs tackling different viewpoints online with others. Children, web evangelists argue, should be evaluated for their proficiency on the internet just as they are tested on their print reading comprehension.
Moreover, the internet beats television. While web reading proponents don't discount the value of books, they also believe it's unrealistic to expect all children to read classic literature for fun. Moreover, digital reading - which typically avoids the beginning, middle and end pattern of books - may help children fare better when they begin looking for digital-age jobs.
Young people "aren't as troubled as some of us older folks are by reading that doesn't go in a line," said Professor Spiro. "That's a good thing because the world doesn't go in a line, and the world isn't organized into separate compartments or chapters."
But traditionalists believe the internet's melding of words, pictures and sounds "distracts more than strengthens readers," according to the Times. They also believe most internet time is spent playing games or sending instant messages.
"Whatever the benefits of newer electronic media," Dana Gioia, the chairman of the N.E.A., wrote in a recent report on declining reading test scores, "they provide no measurable substitute for the intellectual and personal development initiated and sustained by frequent reading."
Discussion Questions: How will the digital age change the commercial viability of books? How should retailers be positioning themselves around the book category? Secondly, what, if anything, can retailers be doing to position themselves for the ongoing shift toward reading online?