How can we get people more interested in reading?

[KindaSkolarly]

Electronic devices and social media have wrecked reading, at least traditional reading. Social media was designed to be addictive. For every like or smiley or thumbs up you get, your brain produces a squirt of joy juice. Neurochemicals like dopamine and endorphins. Young people are now addicted to them, and they chase endless fixes with their tweets and selfies. Books can't compete with that.

I try to steer people to mixed media now. Few will ever read through any of the classics, but they might, if they're introduced to them in a roundabout way. Tonight I finished putting together a presentation of Dylan Thomas' Under Milk Wood.

http://mikesheedy.com/other-stuff/other ... xed-media/

Since there's an audio component to that presentation, perhaps the listener will follow the text through to the end, and then seek out other works by Thomas.

Such is the hope at any rate. But I suspect reading as we knew it is dead, barring a power outage.

[vizitelly]

I think young people read all the time, they just don't read what adults think they should read; that's not much different to any young person in any era.

[mattiechase]

I think it's a matter of making reading a positive experience for people. In school, we're made to read books that we might not necessarily understand or enjoy, and if that's a person's only experience with reading, then it's going to have a negative impact on the way they view it in the future. For me, my love of reading comes from being a little kid and reading stories with my mom, so my introduction to reading was a positive experience, and one that happened years before school began to enforce required readings.

I also think that making reading more accessible to people would help. For instance, there's a tendency to view audiobooks as a "lesser" form of reading, but for people with dyslexia or ADHD, audiobooks make books accessible in a way that they weren't always. My dad is dyslexic, and for him, reading is a chore. It gives him a headache to do it for long stretches of time, but he will happily sit there and listen to me reading from my favorite books for hours because he likes the stories, he just never enjoyed the physical act of reading. Beyond that, books can be expensive, and for a lot of families, they're a frivolous expense that can't be justified when there are so many bills to pay. That's why it's important to raise awareness for community libraries where people can have free access to books, and to support those libraries when we can.

Finally, I think it's a good idea to make reading more social. Book clubs are a great way to involve people in the social aspects of what can traditionally be a fairly solitary sport. Having chances to talk about the books that have an impact on your life is a really heady experience. Personally, I'm one of those people who can talk for hours about my favorite books, and I love listening to others tell me about the books that they love as well. Creating a welcoming and safe space for people to talk books is possibly the biggest thing that we can do to show others that reading can be a fun a social hobby where anyone can belong.

[vizitelly]

A lot of people do argue against having set texts in schools and it can be irritating for teenagers, but education is concerned with defining and providing the best examples to pupils and students. The debate is the same as in any other area of life - what is the best quality available and do I want it? Is it better that children be taught to understand difficult texts or to be given simple and unquestioning works to read? It's key, because the answer to that defines what kind of a society is developed.

[Litwitlou]

How: Instead of forcing children to read terrible books in school (30 min reading etc) they should actually be taught how to read well written books and given the tools required to read beyond the plot. Reading books for the plot is boring and provides nothing more than tv series or movies.

Take your kids to the library or bookstore once a week for 20 minutes. Then turn them loose. I've said it before, they'll read what they want to read. If you try to make or teach them to read what you want them to read you appeal to the same kids that would read anyway.

To increase the number of kids who read, buy them whatever books or magazines they pick themselves. Don't tell them what they want to read is above or below their reading level. It's fine if they go on a Stephen King binge. Don't give them your opinions on the literary value of their books. If you leave them alone they will come to you with questions. At that point you can point out character development, style tropes and so on. Do not push them toward your childhood favorites or any other books, really. It's tough, but if you want them to start enjoying reading you must let them choose their own material. Your job is to lead them to the library and get out of their way.

[princesscookie19]

Well In the last time I was in hospital they read a lot and most crazy peoplez do spend there time reading beaucase it stops the voices and stops negativity and evil pysopathas that do things like self harm or struggle doing normal activities .. For me,My dad use to read a lot in the kitchen and when he died I started to read and then I got addicted to reading books. It helps me,in a lot of ways.