If you were to tell me a week ago that, in a growing time for movies and T.V. shows based on popular books, that reading comprehension and understanding had gone down, I would’ve thought you were delusional.
But I guess not.
In my readings for this week, (ironic isn’t it?) I had to wrap my mind around decreasing reading comprehension and, unfortunately for me, reasonable points were made.
We are almost always staring at some kind of screen– a phone, laptop, T.V. and even screens that don’t belong to us.
So when the time comes where you want or need to sit down and read a book, it’s hard to focus on it.
While going through, “I have forgotten how to read” I resonated with the search for some online platform to read. I use online reading so much more than traditional reading.
I have apps like Libby for regular and audiobooks and I use a Kindle, but I can’t remember the last time I opened a physical book without a companion audiobook.
Throughout that reading, Harris points out all the different ways we can relearn how to read. As someone who enjoys reading (specifically fiction) when she gets the chance, it is interesting to me how his advice is similar to what we had to do in K-12.
Take notes, think about the context of the book and the author, this is what I’ve heard of before. Social proof and stopping a book if you don’t enjoy it is what I either haven’t heard or have been strongly discouraged.
I will admit, I have read books for classes I wish I could just stop reading. I had to take notes and write essays on them. No matter if I enjoyed the book or not, looking back, I remember more about those books than I do about the books I read for pleasure. I will always be grateful for my teachers for making me though.
Harvard published an article discussing a study that showed that less than 1/4 of time in reading and E.L.A. involves reading comprehension in schools.
This breaks my heart, because literacy is how authors warned us.
In books like The Handmaids’ Tale, 1984, and Fahrenheit 451, it warned of a future where rights are stripped away, books are burned, and people must think the same way.
With people unlearning how to read, it leaves books like these vulnerable to change and misunderstanding that causes the books to lose their purpose.
It’s a future that may have looked so far away, but may be approaching sooner than we realize.
Leave a Reply