I was unfamiliar with term aliteracy when my English teacher chose it as the topic for this essay. Upon learning its meaning – the ability to read, but choosing not to, I have struggled with how affected I’ve been by the concept. I then asked myself how much value I place on reading and quickly realized reading is not at the top of my list of priorities. It is striking then that I have come to hold true that reading is a vital skill for gaining insight into the world around me. The question becomes; what makes a person - dare say I, choose not to read? The answer is not cut and dry, or black or white; perhaps because reading for pleasure is easier said then done. There are reasons why literate people choose less engaging mediums to entertain and educate like say, audio books, over more traditional forms, like books. In America's fast-paced culture, reading has become an afterthought and fosters aliteracy. Evidence suggests that television, the Internet and low instances of parents reading to their children are possible reasons to explain the existence of aliteracy.
Television and the Internet have taken the place of reading as the way people gather information and are entertained. I know this to be true because I have fallen prey to the allure of T.V and the Internet. I have spent countless hours watching T.V, surfing the web, sending emails or instant messages rather than reading a book or a newspaper article. According to Diane Dell Ed.S., an instructional technology specialist, "Many educators view the Internet and multimedia technology [like television] as factors contributing to a reduction in the amount of time children are engaged in reading books" (Reading). Additionally, child experts at the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry express concerns that kids who watch a lot of television will read fewer books and perform poorly in school (Facts). In fact, a child spends on average more than twenty two hours a week watching television, playing video games or surfing the Internet as reported in 2006 by Medical News Today, an online new source (Nag). When almost an entire day is lost in media and not reading, it's no wonder literacy is dwindling among children and young adults.
The Internet plays a crucial role in why people choose not to read. Although I sit in front of a computer screen for hours on end the amount of information that I retain is relatively small. When author and web expert Jakob Nielson analyzed the study titled Not Quite the Average: An Empirical Study of Web Use, he concluded that “when you add more verbiage to a [web] page, people will only read 18% of it.”(Perez). This is not surprising to me since I am guilty of spending more time skimming and browsing online content than actual reading; I also know I am not alone. Moreover, Neilson continued "[...] the truth is people don't read very much, [but are] often scanning text instead of really reading it"(Perez). The children and young adults I know would much rather spend their leisure social networking on sites like Facebook or Myspace, listening to MP3's or watching MTV. Now that information can be accessed so quickly online, capable folks like myself choose it over picking up a book or magazine. I am convinced that modern technology has social and educational consequences.
For decades experts in education have stressed that reading by parents to their children helps them learn. In the article, Preschool Home Literacy Practices and Children’s Literacy Development, author and sociologist Michelle Hood wrote “Parents are encouraged to read to their children from an early age to prepare them for literacy acquisition after school entry (Hood et al.). She goes one to say “Parent–child reading fosters [basic] pre-literacy skills” (Hood et al.). After thinking about the concept of aliteracy I feel that school children whose parents do not read to them are at a disadvantage; perhaps not enjoying reading later in life. I was rarely read to as a child, and consequently I do not enjoy reading as an adult very much either; sad but true, yet an unfortunate truth. As an adult student reading has again hit the top of my priorities list.
Frankly, aliteracy is not an easy subject to accurately pin point a root cause too, or write an essay about, for that matter. However, one thing is clear, whether I open up my Barrack Obama book up again soon or not, I know that I need to read more. If anything this short essay has educated and motivated me to want to be a better reader, by which I would read more. I also better understand how much modern conveniences change the way our culture is entertained and educated. I am, however confident that if I am able to change my behavior and read for pleasure rather out of pressure, others will be as well.
Cited Works
Dell, Diana. “Reading and Technology”. Connecting Reading Instruction and Technology.
AACAP. “Facts for Families”. Children and Watching T.V. March 2001.
Medical News Today. “The More Time Children Spend In Front of a TV Screen The Higher The ‘Nag’ Factor” 05 April 2006.
Perez, Sarah. “Read Write Web”. The Stats are in: You’re Just Skimming This Article. 7 May 2008
Perez, Sarah. “Read Write Web”. The Stats are in: You’re Just Skimming This Article. 7 May 2008
Hood, Michelle et al. "Preschool Home Literacy Practices and Children's Literacy Development: A Longitudinal Analysis." Journal of Educational Psychology 100.2 (01 May 2008
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