Are You Reading This?

I've always believed that it wasn't my English classes that made me a good reader and writer but the fact that I devoured books as a teenager. I did the minimum work in class required to maintain my grades and never had any enthusiasm for the lessons. Most of the time I didn't even read the assigned novels outside of class because I could do fine on the tests just by paying attention to the lectures about them. But at the same time as I avoided reading anything assigned, I always had a book of my choosing to read during any spare time at the end of class and outside of school. The constant exposure to writing taught me more than formal study.

Will kids/teens who grow up devouring mainly online text experience the same effect?

. . . As teenagers’ scores on standardized reading tests have declined or stagnated, some argue that the hours spent prowling the Internet are the enemy of reading — diminishing literacy, wrecking attention spans and destroying a precious common culture that exists only through the reading of books.

But others say the Internet has created a new kind of reading, one that schools and society should not discount. The Web inspires a teenager like Nadia, who might otherwise spend most of her leisure time watching television, to read and write. . . .

Literacy Debate: Online, R U Really Reading?