Well, I have decided to do a series on the dumbing down of American children. I know it sounds awful to even say it, but I believe it is true, for many reasons, which is why I have decided to do a series on it.
First, I would like to talk about reading, or lack there of. I believe the affect of video games and TV is that reading a book becomes boring and extremely un-stimulating for a child. Since they do not read, but do other mindless activities, it affects attentions spans etc. I will talk more about that later, for now, just read this statistic.
According to Dr. Bernice Cullinan of New York University (found in Endangered Minds), the proportion of readers in the United States is continuing to become smaller with a steady and significant decline in the number of book readers under twenty-one. Here is the result of a large group of "typical" fifth graders when asked how much they spend reading outside of school:
50% read four minutes a day or less
30% read two minutes a day or less
10% read nothing
The same group of children watched an average of 130 minutes of TV per day.
I will let you chew on that for now. Thoughts?
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9 comments:
I personally read a lot and play video games so I probably have a bit of a "reflex" when this argument is made. I think to blame video games makes the argument too simple. Plus, I'm always nervous about these types of studies when I haven't seen how they did the research.
All of that to say, there is no doubt kids are not reading as much today as they once did and it is to their detriment.
You know I was thinking of something else. What responsibility do parents who don't want to read to their kids early in life have in this whole fiasco. Personally, I'd probably put more of the blame there before I went after T.V. or Video Games, unless the parents weren't reading because of said vices.
Joe,
Totally agree with you. My husband loves video games as well, plus is an avid reader. Since this is part one, I was going to expand on it. In other words, I am not blaming video games or TV on the problem of reading and illiteracy at all. Again, I will talk more in my next post, but wanted to be clear that it goes beyond those two things.
Well, at least I didn't kill this thread. It seems every one of your posts that I comment on, does not get any more comments--I was a little nervous thinking maybe I was cursed or something. Just kidding. Looking forward to more.
Jaime, I totally agree!!! I missed this post b/c I was watching the Bachelor... j/k! :o)
I have a huge love for reading and can't wait to pass that on...
Well, at least I didn't kill this thread. It seems every one of your posts that I comment on, does not get any more comments--I was a little nervous thinking maybe I was cursed or something. - Joe
Mom said don't talk to strangers :)
Joey,
Hahah, that's funny. Well, grab your mom and dad and whoever else and come visit. I'd love to pick your mom and dad's brain about getting published.
I'm not sure grand rapids is in our vacation plans...but picking mom and dad's brain?
thats fun stuff. I'm sure it can be arranged
Joe-
Are you in Grand Rapids Michigan??
If so...I'm from Mt. Pleasant.....small world :)
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