4 Recent Newspaper Articles that Highlight the Children's Reading Crisis
When The Spectator, The Independent, The FT, and The Atlantic all have something to say
If you’ve ever bought a car, once you’ve decided on the model, you might have noticed that car appearing seemingly everywhere. There’s a name for this phenomenon: the frequency illusion.
Since my family, friends, and colleagues became aware of my journey researching the crisis in children’s reading, they too began noticing it everywhere. Coincidence? Cognitive bias? Zeitgeist? Or, just perhaps, others are stumbling across the truth.
Today I’m sharing four recent newspaper articles that highlight the children’s reading crisis:
Article 1: ‘Why children have stopped reading’ (The Spectator, August 2024)
Mary Wakefield writes this insightful article stemming from the depressing National Literacy Trust data that emerged in 2024.
Her article touches on:
The enduring impact of childhood reading.
The decline in reading habits.
Technology and social media as major contributors.
Utilitarian education making reading less enjoyable.
The benefits of reading.
It’s a fantastic piece that validates many themes and ideas that I’m working on for Storygram.
As the art of reading fades, so, ironically, the scientific evidence demonstrating how valuable and beneficial it is to a young mind only grows.
Article 2: ‘Screens and teens: How phones broke children’s brains’ (The Independent, October 2024)
Helen Coffey draws on Jonathan Haidt’s expert insights from his book ‘The Anxious Generation’ to raise awareness of the damage that screens are doing to children.
The key themes are:
That smartphones are now ubiquitous among children.
The rise in smartphone use correlates with increasing rates of depression, anxiety, and self-harm in adolescents.
Young brains are more susceptible to addiction and attention fragmentation.
Tech companies are culpable for failing to address the harm caused by their products.
The main thing to stress is that it’s not too late to make a change, says Haidt: “When new consumer products are found to be dangerous, especially for children, we recall them and keep them off the market until the manufacturer corrects the design. In 2010, teens, parents, schools and even tech companies didn’t know that smartphones and social media had so many harmful effects. Now we do.”
Article 3: ‘Pirates or princesses, the adventures we read as children shape us for life’ (The FT, July 2024)
This lovely opinion piece from Nilanjana Roy also reflects on the implications of a loss of love for reading among children. She highlights:
The problem of increased screen time, library closures, and the cost-of-living crisis limiting access to books.
The benefits to children who read regularly, being more likely to overcome social and economic disadvantages.
That we need to ensure children have access to diverse books through libraries, bookshops, and home collections.
That we need to foster a love for reading in children.
My beloved nieces and nephews have taught me that where I loved pirates, they might prefer princesses, or that Toad, Ratty and Mole from Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows might be cherished by one and leave another yawning in boredom. Hide their smartphones but let them choose their own books, and make their own, lifelong reading memories.
Article 4: ‘The Elite College Students Who Can’t Read Books’ (The Atlantic, October 2024)
This piece by Rose Horowitch reveals the early signs of a shocking but perhaps natural trajectory as children who don’t enjoy reading advance towards university:
Even students at top US universities now struggle to finish their reading assignments.
High schools may be at fault for giving shorter texts instead of whole chapters or books to read.
Students that avoid challenging texts could become those who avoid challenging ideas.
Broad intellectual culture is at risk of erosion.
Books offer unique insights into the human condition that shorter excerpts or alternative media cannot replicate.
High-achieving students at exclusive schools like Columbia can decode words and sentences. But they struggle to muster the attention or ambition required to immerse themselves in a substantial text. Faced with this predicament, many college professors feel they have no choice but to assign less reading and lower their expectations.
These four articles serve to reinforce my viewpoint that the children’s reading crisis matters immensely — both for children and broader society as a whole.
But they do also offer some measure of hope that something can be done about it.