Monday, 8 October 2012

Thoughts on reading

I came across an article today which is quite interesting. It gave a bit of facts and figures on reading focusing on the reading habit of kids aged 8-18. The article is dated April of 2010 a bit old but its scary to think what the facts are in 2012.

Our kids are losing their ability of free thinking which is characterised by reading. They get too wrapped up in games, movies, mobile phones and - don't say it - the internet, that creating a habit of reading and imaginative thinking are becoming foreign concepts in today's youth.

Thoughts, facts, figures on reading

  • Today's 8- to 18-year-old's spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes using entertainment media across a typical day — or more than 53 hours a week.

  • Over the past five years, time spent reading books remained steady at about 25 minutes a day. Time with magazines and newspapers dropped from 14 minutes to 9 minutes a day for magazines and from 6 minutes to 3 minutes a day for newspapers. 

  • The proportion of young people who read a newspaper in a typical day dropped from 42 percent in 1999 to 23 percent in 2009. (Kaiser Family Foundation)

  • More than three out of four of those who are on welfare are illiterate. (Washington Literacy Council)

Now a few famous and infamous quotes on reading:

"A capacity and taste for reading gives access to whatever has already been discovered by others." Abraham Lincoln


"The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go." Dr. Seuss

"The greatest gift is a passion for reading." Elizabeth Hardwick


"No matter how busy you may think you are, you must find time for reading, or surrender yourself to self-chosen ignorance." Confucius

"Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers." Harry S Truman

"There are many little ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all." Jacqueline Kennedy

"Literacy unlocks the door to learning throughout life, is essential to development and health, and opens the way for democratic participation and active citizenship." Kofi Annan

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