[lbo-talk] Americans swear off reading

[Carl Remick]

On Nov 19, 2007 10:16 AM, Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> [NEA original: <http://www.arts.gov/research/ToRead.pdf>]
>
> <http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/>
>
> ... Just how reading-averse have Americans become? In 2006, the study
> found, 15-to-24-year-olds spent just seven minutes on voluntary
> reading on weekdays— 10 minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. They found
> time to watch two to two-and-a-half hours of television daily.
>
> Older and presumably wiser— or at least more bookish— generations
> didn't do much better. In 2006 people ages 35 to 44 devoted only 12
> minutes a day to reading. Even the best-read group, Americans 65 and
> older, logged less than an hour each weekday and just over an hour on
> weekends.
>
> [...]
>
> When Americans do manage to read something, whether it's a book or a
> blog, more and more of us can't do it well. ...

How remarkably unsurprising.  I don't suppose there are any data
indicating what *part* of the US has shown the most robust gains in
illiteracy?  I have a sneaking suspicion I know already.  My guess
would be it's that region whose truly greatest "Lost Cause" is
actually education.

Carl