In the 1970s, teens read three times as many books as they do today. High school teacher Jeremy Adams laments the rise of the cellphone and the death of reading. (via latimesopinion)
None of this would surprise modern classroom teachers, who can attest that the ubiquitous presence of cellphones and other devices in the lives of students is a zeitgeist-defining development that has fundamentally altered the American classroom. Students are perpetually, almost manically, distracted in class and at home. The ability to focus on a single task — studying, taking notes and, yes, reading a book — has largely been lost.
In fall 1998, I began my teaching career with five classes of freshman English. After one class, a student asked me two simple questions: “Why are we required to read these stories? What’s the point?” I no longer remember my response, but I have never forgotten his words to me. “I never really thought of reading like that before,” he said. “It really gives me something to think about.”
In that moment, I fell in love with teaching. From then on, spreading the gospel about the transformative power of reading found its way into most of my classes on most days.Suddenly I was in a desperate struggle for my students’ attention. Phones began appearing on desks in the middle of class. When students were told to put their phones away, bathroom requests shot through the roof. The time they reported it took to complete their homework was much longer than it used to be.
Consider all of the benefits the habit of reading ushers into the lives of those who practice it — and then take them away. A generation that has filled its time with the endless frivolity of pixelated screens will live in a world that is smaller. They will lose empathy. Their imaginations will be stunted. Their dreams will become prosaic. They will become estranged from many of the treasures that only readers can comprehend.
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