Kids Using More E-readers to Read

girl with tablet
January 14, 2013 3:30 pm By Desiree Browne
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The New York Times‘ Media Decoder blog reported that a new study from Scholastic found children are using reading more and more on digital readers. Since 2006, Scholastic has been surveying parents and children ages 6 to 17 about reading habits. This most recent study found that the number of children using tablets and e-readers for their books has skyrocketed, with nearly twice as many children using them in 2012 than in 2010 (46 percent).

However, this doesn’t mean children are reading more across the board. In the same two-year period, fewer girls have reported being frequent readers (down to 36 percent from 42 percent in 2010). It seems using devices like iPads distracts kids from reading, letting them use social media when reading. Researchers say this means parents need to do a better job of managing kids’ screen time so kids keep their nose in books instead of getting distracted by their tablet’s other capabilities.  The good news that boys ages 9 to 17 say they’d read more books for pleasure if they had greater access to ebooks. And little bookworms say they like tablets and ereaders when they want to keep their reading secret, but overall still prefer paper books.

How do your children read books?

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