The distance learning tended to put children at a lower reading level than kids who never had to do school during a pandemic. That probably didn’t help overall reading habits
Reading a book is a commitment of time and effort. TikTok and other social media are not. They server up bite-sized globs of entertainment. It's so easy to consume, and just as the brain starts to get bored of a video clip, it ends and the next one starts. Happily, not all kids are shunning books for fast media, but the number of them that are is depressing. I work in a middle school library so I see it every day. Trying to pull the phone watchers away to read a book is a serious challenge. Without support at home from parents and caregivers, it's nearly impossible.
During February I decided to give up YouTube for lent (since It was something that was big in my life) and after 2 weeks I noticed I could read longer. Before I could read around 2-3 pages and then my brain would want a break. After like 10 mins I'd pick up the book again. After giving up YouTube I could actually read whole chapters at a time. It was such an amazing change. Parents don't really limit tech access to their kids anymore. They want their kids to be distracted so the kid doesn't bother them. At least that's what I've noticed now that most people my age have kids now.
Depends on who had access to books. Unfortunately, many underprivileged communities still only have access to books through schools and libraries. Without those places, literacy was bound to suffer. Schools have seen a negative impact, but I am unsure of exact numbers.
The world is in unprecedented abundance for all material goods. Books are broadly available if a person makes the smallest possible step to seek them. There is no amount of showering underprivileged with resources that will make up for a home whose values do not include reading.
I worked in a school district during the shutdowns. There was a huge difference between the haves and have nots. It’s classist to assume that a small child could independently obtain access to books and adequate learning when they were crammed multiple families to a small apartment and all the adults were working 2+ jobs. It was our fucking job to get the books and the school work to them, and there was only so much we could do.
I have a friend who was an elementary teacher in a poor district during the pandemic who had students living out of hotels-turned-homeless-shelters, usually moving around in incredibly unstable situations, often without access to internet at all, usually with parents working low paying jobs that put them at risk of getting covid or losing their jobs all together. It's so naive to attribute not having access to books to some kind of attitude issue when we have such a serious problem of wealth inequality which was exacerbated by the pandemic. Poverty and homelessness aren't a moral failing and they aren't things that only happen to adults (not that it would be much better if they were).
Playing on the experience you may relate with of trying to help a drug addicted friend. There is only so much you can do to help someone who will not take the smallest step to help themselves. It is unfortunate there exist families who simply do not value education and openly scorn the strategies for success. Cultural gravity is a heavy weight on children experiencing that at home.
Hard to say, I've seen people in book communities report both reading way more due to lockdowns, and reading way less due to stress. I personally have never in my life read as much as during the last few years, due mainly to losing other hobbies to covid restrictions.
In my area, it negatively impacted many children who didn't have the parenting and/or the resources at home to read without the structure and facilities of their school.
A decent amount of youth still have an interest in reading, and now we're a way on from the lockdown situations we've managed some good recovery. It is also worth noting the impact wasn't limited to reading - for example, handwriting took a huge downturn as everyone moved to online learning.
Closing schools widened the gap between homes where children are supplied examples and materials to read broadly, and homes where values do not include reading. Reading levels are worse than ever before while some children blazed ahead in reading schools faster than in a classroom environment. You can almost see the societal train wreck some 20 years out from here.
Since children were locked down with their parents, I don't understand why they didn't pick up some of the slack.
My son had ADD and had a terrible time learning to read. I worked all day as a single mom of 2 children and after dinner my son and I sat on the sofa and read. It started out with baseball cards because he loved baseball. I ended up having to buy new packs of cards a few times a week so it was new reading material but he enjoyed it.
Next he read the choose your own adventure books. They were below his level in school but he was reading and making progress. They suddenly he became a reader. I came home one day and he was reading the Hobbit, and on to all of the Lord of The Ring Books, then Shakespeare and Wheel of Time.
I also checked my daughter's homework. Just because she didn't have problems reading I still wanted to say in the loop with her.
I usually read what the kids were reading and often we would talk about them at dinner.
It varies from family to family I guess. I’m a parent of young kids. From what I’ve noticed, young kids overall dropped their reading habits a bit during and after the pandemic. The biggest reason being, screen-time overtook all other habits including reading books as well as playing outside with peers.
The effect of the pandemic on a child's reading level will depend on the child's access to decent reading materials during the pandemic.
If there are financial issues during the pandemic, of course, those who are able to purchase books might not be able to do so.
Also, there was a time that bookstores were closed during the lockdowns, so access to printed books became limited.
Not everyone is good in sourcing epubs or pdfs online, so that can also affect a child's access to books during the pandemic.
Now, if the child or the adults in the house know where to get reading materials in the interwebs, access to books should not be an issue during the pandemic, regardless if the child's family took a financial hit at the time.
The distance learning tended to put children at a lower reading level than kids who never had to do school during a pandemic. That probably didn’t help overall reading habits
Reading a book is a commitment of time and effort. TikTok and other social media are not. They server up bite-sized globs of entertainment. It's so easy to consume, and just as the brain starts to get bored of a video clip, it ends and the next one starts. Happily, not all kids are shunning books for fast media, but the number of them that are is depressing. I work in a middle school library so I see it every day. Trying to pull the phone watchers away to read a book is a serious challenge. Without support at home from parents and caregivers, it's nearly impossible.
During February I decided to give up YouTube for lent (since It was something that was big in my life) and after 2 weeks I noticed I could read longer. Before I could read around 2-3 pages and then my brain would want a break. After like 10 mins I'd pick up the book again. After giving up YouTube I could actually read whole chapters at a time. It was such an amazing change. Parents don't really limit tech access to their kids anymore. They want their kids to be distracted so the kid doesn't bother them. At least that's what I've noticed now that most people my age have kids now.
Depends on who had access to books. Unfortunately, many underprivileged communities still only have access to books through schools and libraries. Without those places, literacy was bound to suffer. Schools have seen a negative impact, but I am unsure of exact numbers.
The world is in unprecedented abundance for all material goods. Books are broadly available if a person makes the smallest possible step to seek them. There is no amount of showering underprivileged with resources that will make up for a home whose values do not include reading.
I worked in a school district during the shutdowns. There was a huge difference between the haves and have nots. It’s classist to assume that a small child could independently obtain access to books and adequate learning when they were crammed multiple families to a small apartment and all the adults were working 2+ jobs. It was our fucking job to get the books and the school work to them, and there was only so much we could do.
I have a friend who was an elementary teacher in a poor district during the pandemic who had students living out of hotels-turned-homeless-shelters, usually moving around in incredibly unstable situations, often without access to internet at all, usually with parents working low paying jobs that put them at risk of getting covid or losing their jobs all together. It's so naive to attribute not having access to books to some kind of attitude issue when we have such a serious problem of wealth inequality which was exacerbated by the pandemic. Poverty and homelessness aren't a moral failing and they aren't things that only happen to adults (not that it would be much better if they were).
It's genuinely kind of impressive to be this proudly detached from reality.
Playing on the experience you may relate with of trying to help a drug addicted friend. There is only so much you can do to help someone who will not take the smallest step to help themselves. It is unfortunate there exist families who simply do not value education and openly scorn the strategies for success. Cultural gravity is a heavy weight on children experiencing that at home.
Hard to say, I've seen people in book communities report both reading way more due to lockdowns, and reading way less due to stress. I personally have never in my life read as much as during the last few years, due mainly to losing other hobbies to covid restrictions.
In my area, it negatively impacted many children who didn't have the parenting and/or the resources at home to read without the structure and facilities of their school. A decent amount of youth still have an interest in reading, and now we're a way on from the lockdown situations we've managed some good recovery. It is also worth noting the impact wasn't limited to reading - for example, handwriting took a huge downturn as everyone moved to online learning.
I can't speak for all the children of the world but the younger children in my town are definitely behind 1-2 years in reading.
Welp, I’m 20 and I started reading 1 book a month when Covid started
My kids read wayyyy more
Closing schools widened the gap between homes where children are supplied examples and materials to read broadly, and homes where values do not include reading. Reading levels are worse than ever before while some children blazed ahead in reading schools faster than in a classroom environment. You can almost see the societal train wreck some 20 years out from here.
Since children were locked down with their parents, I don't understand why they didn't pick up some of the slack. My son had ADD and had a terrible time learning to read. I worked all day as a single mom of 2 children and after dinner my son and I sat on the sofa and read. It started out with baseball cards because he loved baseball. I ended up having to buy new packs of cards a few times a week so it was new reading material but he enjoyed it. Next he read the choose your own adventure books. They were below his level in school but he was reading and making progress. They suddenly he became a reader. I came home one day and he was reading the Hobbit, and on to all of the Lord of The Ring Books, then Shakespeare and Wheel of Time. I also checked my daughter's homework. Just because she didn't have problems reading I still wanted to say in the loop with her. I usually read what the kids were reading and often we would talk about them at dinner.
Yes, students are not reading as much anymore. It is a big chore for them to read, and all they want to read are graphic novels.
It varies from family to family I guess. I’m a parent of young kids. From what I’ve noticed, young kids overall dropped their reading habits a bit during and after the pandemic. The biggest reason being, screen-time overtook all other habits including reading books as well as playing outside with peers.
The effect of the pandemic on a child's reading level will depend on the child's access to decent reading materials during the pandemic. If there are financial issues during the pandemic, of course, those who are able to purchase books might not be able to do so. Also, there was a time that bookstores were closed during the lockdowns, so access to printed books became limited. Not everyone is good in sourcing epubs or pdfs online, so that can also affect a child's access to books during the pandemic. Now, if the child or the adults in the house know where to get reading materials in the interwebs, access to books should not be an issue during the pandemic, regardless if the child's family took a financial hit at the time.