wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] hjs from 11211 August 12, 2008 - 11:06AM

  i feel so guilty about not reading more but i have no time to read everything i want to. life

  maybe if i make it to retirement i'll have time, if i can still see then.

  do books on tape count as reading

  
  
• [2] O from Forest Hills August 12, 2008 - 11:41AM

  I read a book a week at least, but on the overcrowded subways, it is difficult to read, I either don't have room or feel like a duck flapping my arms for room to stand and hold the book so I don't bother sometimes.

  I love to read.

  
  
• [3] Dan from new york August 12, 2008 - 11:41AM

  As the parent of a teenager I've been aware of the coming post literate age for some time. If it wasn't for text messaging and e mail my son, like most of his peers, wouldn't write at all. Microsoft continues to work on voice recognition software that would do away with the need to write at all. But is this really a problem at all? For most of human history the vast majority of people couldn't read or write. It's only in the last 100 to 200 years that literacy became prevalent. A return to communication by the senses, hearing, seeing would be in keeping with how we've evolved communication through most of our existence. Erasing the artifact of written symbols as an intermediate to thought might actually free the mind to different understanding. For example, we'd see a tree, make the sound for tree but not have to see the word tree in our mind. We'd simply envision the tree itself. While this will might create a new priestly caste as the keeper of knowledge I don't think it would be catastrophic. All that freed mindspace might result in some great thoughts.

  
  
• [4] Albertine from NYC August 12, 2008 - 11:47AM

  Mordok

  There is an important myth here that we have to confront. The buying and selling of drugs is the ONLY form of economy available to these young people. Also, it is ONLY the US that treats these minor offenses as felonies which destroys the lives of these individuals, their families and their communities in perpetuity. Other countries, even in Europe which is still inherently racist, drug crimes are treated as health issues, and are treated as such. It is very important that we all understand all the factors, before we give ourselves license to have a point of view.

  
  
• [5] oilmonkey from NY August 12, 2008 - 11:47AM

  I'm sick of hearing people whine about 'no time to read' yet they've watched every idiotic idol/survivor/sexcity/24 episode on TV. You have a chioce. Turn off the TV (or the computer) and read something. There is plenty of time.

  
  
• [6] inquisigal from Brooklyn August 12, 2008 - 11:48AM

  I've been reading a lot of these articles about the death of reading, and as a person who has a BFA in writing and literature, it definitely depresses me. There is something so incredibly different that happens to one's brain and imagination when reading a novel, or even book-length non-fiction - that cannot be achieved via reading small snippets of articles online. However, I think this is only a greater product of what's happening in our culture on a larger scale - how do adults expect to set a good example, and get their kids to sit down to read, if they're glued to their iphones and Blackberries, and spend half their lives online? We all need to get away from digital technology once in a while and use our brains in another, more contemplative and imaginative, way.

  
  
• [7] O from Forest Hills August 12, 2008 - 11:49AM

  Turn off the Simpsons and read a book and keep in touch with friends in this world.

  Is there a book about the Simpsons we can read instead of watch tv?

  Increased literacy also staves off Alzheimer's.

  
  
• [8] robert from park slope August 12, 2008 - 11:52AM

  Is the correlation between reading for pleasure and success entirely attributable to the mental exercise of reading or is an element of class involved? In other words, isn't it more likely that a children of relatively privileged parents will be directed towards reading as a pastime?

  
  
• [9] David Hume from Staten Island, NY August 12, 2008 - 11:52AM

  Large amounts of people reading is an anomaly to the the 20th century. This never happened before and will soon go away.

  We are going back to the way it's always been were the masses deal in the visual, and small minorities of people like monks will be the only readers. No big deal actually.

  What is the point of reading if everyone is using it to read the bus map and the TV guide? If these people stop reading it is not such a big deal.

  Dave

  
  
• [10] Albertine from NYC August 12, 2008 - 11:52AM

  Great article in Epoch Times about the loss of literacy in Afghanistan over 30 yrs of war. No wonder the people are easily swayed by mesmerizing despots. Sound familiar? For us it wasn't war, but an assault by entertainment media and market forces that cannot profitably deliver comprehensive democratic news.

  Here's a quote from a bookseller in Afghanistan. "Through books, our kids would know about their culture, history and understand the world. Books are like seas. You have to dive into the sea to get the pearl. You have to read books to know how to solve your country's problems." -- Shah Muhammad Rais, Largest bookseller in the reconstructing nation of Afghanistan 2008.

  The US is going to need a few decades to sort this out. We're de-skilling ourselves.

  
  
• [11] Albertine from NYC August 12, 2008 - 11:55AM

  Dan

  cool, but that last 200 years happens to be the Post-Enlightenment! You're saying we should go backward because that is the way it has always been?

  
  
• [12] Joan from Manhattan August 12, 2008 - 11:55AM

  When I was a kid I used to read books upon books - sometimes three at a time. I hit adolescence just as the internet was really taking off (late 90s) and continued being a voracious reader, though in both print and digital formats.

  Lately I've been dismayed to realize that my appetite for actual bound books is not nearly as great as it was before. That's not to say I'm reading less, but the proportion that is constituted by blogs and news articles is much higher. Online reading is rapid fire of information. In the span of a few minutes I can take in the day's news and events in a matter of minutes, sometimes without even reading a full article.

  The effect of this constant stream of knowledge, however, is that it has fundamentally changed the very way that I think. Even though I hate to admit it, I prefer to have my information in short and thoroughly digested pieces. This byproduct is something that was recently highlighted in an article in The Atlantic Magazine - Is Google Making Us Stupid? http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200807/google

  Digital literacy is a vital life skill that will be more and more necessary as technology progresses, but even as a self-professed tech geek I hope to make the effort to preserve "traditional" reading for future generations.

  
  
• [13] Emily from Manhattan August 12, 2008 - 11:57AM

  As a teacher who tries to help learning disabled students improve their reading comprehension, I am struck by the visual display of web pages and other online material. I try to teach students to look first at section headings, pictures and other materials on a textbook page, to provide relevant context for understanding the details in the text. Yet web pages seem to surround the text of interest with a wide variety of *unrelated* material (ads, mostly). So my students have been "trained" to ignore everything around the edges of the page, which makes reading textbooks a real challenge.

  
  
• [14] EM from nj August 12, 2008 - 11:58AM

  Dan #3 - You raise some interesting possibilities. One of my concerns with the shift away from reading books is that it accelerates the bombardment of advertising we are exposed to now. There certainly are forces that want to accelerate the shift for that reason.

  
  
• [15] Jeffrey Slott from East Elmhurst August 12, 2008 - 11:58AM

  I read every day. The internet, in my opinion, discourages the joy of reading. Most web layout is not conducive to the behavior with its wide lines of type, inappropriate leading, and use of san-serif fonts.

  If I see an article online that I wish to read, I copy and paste it in a word document and then print it out.

  
  
• [16] RosieNYC August 12, 2008 - 11:59AM

  I love reading and have been able to pass on that love to my kids. Unfortunately, their schools, with their "mandatory" reading lists, are not helping. There is no room for choice and the books they are directed to read are just not appealing therefore reading goes from a pleasurable activity to a dreaded one. If schools would do a better job picking titles and engaging students discussing these books, other than the other dreaded reading-related-activity: "the book report", I think we will find that kids are actuallly not book-phobic but schools are making it into a horrible activity. Even though we are in the 21st century, our schools are still teaching reading as they did in the 50's.

  
  
• [17] jen from NJ August 12, 2008 - 12:07PM

  Voracious reader since youth here. I'm 27 now and read every night before bed and will often spend hours with a good text during the weekend or holidays.

  I have yet to find an electronic device that provides the same tactile pleasure and engrossing experience as paper. Nothing beats curling up with a good book, coffee or iced tea at your side, toes dug into the sand or buried beneath a warm blanket, losing yourself within the pages.

  
  
• [18] Dan from new york August 12, 2008 - 03:41PM

  Albertine,

  No, I'm not saying we should, I'm just saying we will. I'm a voracious reader. I'm even working on my fifth book despite this feeling of inevitability. There will still be an awful lot of literate people at least for the near future. But the masses will do what they need to do.