Losing patience to read deeply?

[shootingstar]

About digital media/books, technological distractions for the youngsters and losing patience to read:

In the meantime, she worries, huge monuments of human culture threaten to disappear from consciousness. The “demise” of 19th- and early 20th-century literature is continuing, according to Wolf, who says she has been overwhelmed by mail from educators confirming her fears. “They’re all talking about how their students don’t have the patience any more,” she says.

So goodbye George Eliot, Henry James, et al.

“Syntax is a reflection of the convolution of thought,” says Wolf, who studied literature before turning to linguistics and studying under Noam Chomsky. “As we become too impatient to read complicated syntax, I wonder out loud about the capacity for handling the complexity of issues that are out there in life, with all their semicolons.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...2268465/page1/

Would you agree that more kids have less patience to read a thick book from cover to cover these days?

I think it depends if they are allowed to choose whatever and given time (is that possible) that is distraction free...

I confess that I haven't read a novel ...in over 18 months or more. I read non-fiction from cover to cover. And one of my degrees is English Lit.

And I am by formal training, career-wise have been a librarian. Not public librarian but in engineering and law. I haven't used my own library in the latest city where I live to get a book. I used to be an avid reader right into my early 30's.

I am far from being a great example at this point in life. But still would be getting nieces and nephews interested in books.

[Pax]

I think the Harry Potter phenomenon demonstrates that younger people will still read, as long as it's something that sparks their imagination.

I'm still a voracious reader, as is my mom, SIL, and 28 year old niece. If reading becomes habit when you're young I think it will have a better chance at surviving the onslaught on the digital age.

[Owlie]

I read, just not in the same way I used to. I used to be able to read a book cover-to-cover in one sitting if I had the time. Now I'm reading 30-50 pages at a time. Maybe it's just that I have other responsibilities?

[Becky]

I'm not sure that we give our young people enough time to become engaged in longer, more complicated books. I'm blown away by the stresses and responsibilities placed on friends' and coworkers' kids, not just by their parents but by society. The pressure to do well on standardized tests and earn 4.0 GPAs while being captain of the swim team, volunteering, and playing in the marching band....is it any wonder that teens are exhausted and burnt out?

[OakLeaf]

I don't know about Canada, but I think in the USA, the vaunted universal literacy is largely a myth. As the most recent assessment of adult literacy demonstrates, a majority of adults can't comprehend non-fiction prose pieces that likely seem simple to most of us here.

I think what we're actually seeing is the opposite phenomenon. With the advent of the digital age, people are communicating more and more by the written word. Marginal literacy has been the norm for decades (prior to that, illiteracy was the norm), but now it's in plain view of those of us with advanced reading and writing skills, and in direct contravention of our cultural myth of literacy. It's not as though a person can either read Plato in Greek, or nothing more than her name, and there are no gradations of literacy in between.

Parallel to that is the current economic situation, creating deep pressures on people's time and psyches. People are so consumed by basic survival that they can't even pay attention to the road while they're driving ... or remember that they left their babies in the hot car after they park. Few people have the time or psychic energy to read.

[lph]

My son of 14 is WAY better than I am at reading thick books from cover to cover. And while it's not Plato, it's not all Harry Potter either, he reads adult fiction too.

I love to read, but my concentration is a lot worse now than it was when I was a teen plowing through books late at night.

[zoom-zoom]

We have the opposite problem with our nearly 11 year old. We've had to tell him that he can't just sit and read at recess...he HAS to be social, too. His social skills are somewhat lacking and it's in part because he'd rather hole up in a corner with his nose in a book than cultivate friendships. And often it's not that he's reading something new and gripping...he's rereading the same novels over and over. We wish he'd embrace a happy medium.

[zoom-zoom]

Future writer.

I wish...he LOATHES writing...at least writing by hand. He suffers from worse penmanship than I do. I look forward to the day when he can type more. I think that will help him to get words on paper as fast as his brain works.

His dad does the repeat readings of books, too. I've never been able to do that. There are a lot of movies I can't re-watch, either. I need the mystery of what's next.

[Owlie]

We have the opposite problem with our nearly 11 year old. We've had to tell him that he can't just sit and read at recess...he HAS to be social, too. His social skills are somewhat lacking and it's in part because he'd rather hole up in a corner with his nose in a book than cultivate friendships. And often it's not that he's reading something new and gripping...he's rereading the same novels over and over. We wish he'd embrace a happy medium.

I was "that kid" in elementary school...actually, up through junior high. (And yes, I'd re-read books.)

[VeganBikeChick]

I find that I get completely distracted these days when I'm reading, and I think a lot of the new technology has to do with it. I'll read for a bit, then feel the need to go online, or check my phone. It's actually unnerving to me that I can't sit still and focus.

[Anelia]

I think it depends if they are allowed to choose whatever and given time (is that possible) that is distraction free...

I confess that I haven't read a novel ...in over 18 months or more. I read non-fiction from cover to cover. And one of my degrees is English Lit.

And I am by formal training, career-wise have been a librarian. Not public librarian but in engineering and law. I haven't used my own library in the latest city where I live to get a book. I used to be an avid reader right into my early 30's.

It's as if I'm reading about myself. I used to read a lot until the Internet appeared. No we're reading forums

Maybe it's just that I have other responsibilities?

Yes, I notice that I read when I am on a vacation (without the bike) but that happens once in a blue moon

I'm not sure that we give our young people enough time to become engaged in longer, more complicated books. I'm blown away by the stresses and responsibilities placed on friends' and coworkers' kids, not just by their parents but by society. The pressure to do well on standardized tests and earn 4.0 GPAs while being captain of the swim team, volunteering, and playing in the marching band....is it any wonder that teens are exhausted and burnt out?

I can't agree more with you. I feel guilty if I have to make my son read a book after he had done all his homework and he longs for the time when he can watch TV or play computer games.

I don't know about Canada...

OakLeaf, I think you have wonderful style of writing. Are you a journalist ot some kind of writer?

We have the opposite problem with our nearly 11 year old. We've had to tell him that he can't just sit and read at recess...he HAS to be social, too. His social skills are somewhat lacking and it's in part because he'd rather hole up in a corner with his nose in a book than cultivate friendships. And often it's not that he's reading something new and gripping...he's rereading the same novels over and over. We wish he'd embrace a happy medium.

I think you shouldn't worry. People and children change a lot during their lifetime. He'll get out some day and he'll socialize.

[Pax]

I wish...he LOATHES writing...at least writing by hand. He suffers from worse penmanship than I do. I look forward to the day when he can type more. I think that will help him to get words on paper as fast as his brain works.

His dad does the repeat readings of books, too. I've never been able to do that. There are a lot of movies I can't re-watch, either. I need the mystery of what's next.

I re-read and re-watch things constantly. The first read/watch I'm all about the story, subsequent reads/watches reveal more and more detail, very exciting.

[Crankin]

The only reason DS #1 got in trouble at at school was for skipping gym and going to the library to read

[OakLeaf]

PS - I've never had the patience for Victorian or Edwardian novels. Not even 30+ years ago when I was studying Anglo-Saxon homilists.

[shootingstar]

In the area of literature, from academic study and personal taste, I always preferred contemporary. Medieval, Rennaissance (which most people know as Shakespearean), Augustan (18th century), Victorian and Romantics (Yeats, Blake), only helped me gain cultural appreciation of English lit. Otherwise I found it abit of slog to read the stuff.

All of the above literary knowledge actually enhances my understanding when I look at visual art from those areas as well. Otherwise I wouldn't have been so drawn artistically to visit those museums, galleries...it is one big complete pkg. of Western civilization appreciation for me.

Zoom Zoom- Another cyclist (male) father of 2 teen boys, also voiced the same annoyance/concern of lack of social skills.

I was sort of like that child, except I was raised in a big family so one is forced to acquire social skills anyway .. If the child already has 1-2 good buddy friends, that's at least a good sign.

Children with intellectual interior life (in their brain) who appear lonely, in my opinion, do have great potential...well to become well-rounded. It's easier in my opinion to take a slightly introspective child and help them become more "socialable" because they may already be aware of certain gifts/skills that they can share/use more broadly.

So I was the child /teen bookworm, art dabbler and seamstress at that time. I had lots of time to think about what I was/wasn't capable of and explore it.

Of course cycling is a bit solitary too.