Social Media and Reading

With the rise of the Internet and social media, a lot of people have started doing a a lot of their reading online. While this amount varies from person to person, the ease of access to a large variety of articles and electronic books has meant online reading has become the main form of reading for some people, particularly Gen Y’s and Millenials. Unsurprisingly, this has gotten others up in arms, and they argue that reading and literacy rates are falling.

At the 'Text Marks the Spot' session 'What I Read: Why I Write', Sean Williams, author of numerous books including but not limited to the Astropolis series and the computer game tie-in book The Force Awakens, grew up in a house with two teachers and books everywhere. He never had any restrictions placed on what he read, even if whatever he was reading could be considered not appropriate for the age he read it at. He grew up loving reading, and spoke of how important it is to him. James Moloney, author of numerous novels including but not limited to The Book of Lies and Dougy, on the other hand didn’t become interested in reading books until well into his teens through reading at school. Before that, Moloney says he could never find any books that he was interested in. Instead, he says he would read informative things like newspaper articles, especially focusing on sport. Due to this, Moloney arguably has had a reading life similar to those experienced by people now with social media.

Despite the obvious differences, both Williams and Moloney argue that young people should be encouraged to continue reading regardless of the format because at the end of the day they are still reading, which is clearly a good thing. Numerous studies support this, and one done by the Pew Research Centre has found that millenials are actually out reading older generations. The same study found that young people see public libraries as less essential than the older generations. This shift clearly demonstrates the effect the Internet and social media is having on forms of reading. For people to say though that young people aren’t reading at all is false. I think it just reflects the way that older generations never completely understand the younger generations, and end up critiquing them and making generalisations, rather than just accepting that things change. For example, when rock ‘n’ roll first became popular, there was a huge outcry that the youth were being corrupted, yet society has survived the transition.

Reading appears to be just as popular, if not more so, with Gen Y’s and Millenials than it is compared to older generations. Though the format is changing, literature and reading are always going to have a place in society. I think people just need time to accept that physical books are not always going to be the main form, though in the mean time, it would be nice if they toned back the criticisms.