This is nothing new on an individual basis. There have always been people who were uninterested in reading. One of my brothers, three years older than me, never received a grade lower than an A from Kindergarten through the 12th grade and got a full scholarship to Michigan State University. He told me he hasn't read a book since graduating with a Master's degree. However, I think it's fair to say that there are far fewer people who have developed enjoyment in reading today. There are probably multiple reasons for this, but here are a couple.
I read all the time, but my reading is mostly on a Kindle. I have a few reference books that I like on paper, but I have found I find it harder and harder to read technical books or literature any more.
I have always been a reader and can't resist a book store or library. I come from a long line of readers; my grandma always sat in her rocking chair with a book in the afternoons. My immediate family (parents/sibs) would sit down to dinner and without fail some or all of us had a book at the table. Thankfully my parents were readers so they had no problem with this. My daughters and oldest son are also readers but 2 other sons couldn't care less except for the occasional hot-rod magazine or what have you. Before the age of e-readers, my sister and I would buy books then exchange with each other about once a year. Those boxes of books were like Christmas. We'd always put our initials inside the cover so we'd know if we had read the book already. Recently I was looking through some books on the shelf in the den; one of them has my sister's initials inside which made me smile. Now I take her Fire tablet and load all my Kindle books on it to share. Probably at least 80% of my language skills and knowledge come from reading. Even in a book of fiction there are obscure facts to be gleaned. I can't imagine my life without a stack of books to read, or my Kindle close at hand. People who don't read are missing one of life's greatest pleasures.
It burned with our house while I was in college, but my parents had one of my report cards from elementary school (I forget which grade), but the teacher had added a note: "Reads too much." As I remember it, if it's true that I remember it, the problem might have been that I was more than once caught with a fiction book inside of a textbook, pretending to be following along with the arithmetic lesson that was being covered. Whenever we received a list of recommended books, from which we were supposed to pick a few, I usually read them all, except for Jack London and Herman Melville. After having to read "Moby Dick," I didn't want to read anything else from Melville if he even wrote anything else. I loved nearly everything John Steinbeck wrote but if the first of his books I had read were "The Pearl," I might not had read any others.
When I was in elementary school, I was beyond thrilled to discover that the school library was open daily in the summertime. I would ride my bike to the school at least twice a week and bring home a bicycle basket full of books, then read them and take them back so I could get more.
Our elementary school (K-8) didn't have a library, but there was a bookmobile there a few times a week. I'm from a town of only a couple of hundred people, which no longer has a school. My parents would drop me off at the library in Stephenson sometimes. The church just up the hill from our house was never locked and had a pretty nice library that included more than just Bibles, Bible Dictionaries, and Bible study books. "Fox's Book of Martyrs" was a hit, but there was a good variety of books there, including novels. There was also a mail order book club that my parents enrolled me in.
I have always enjoyed reading but lately my eyes have been a kind of of double vision, [ another song]. Since grade school I've liked history from all eras and peoples. Also was in wonder about subjects like the Great Pyramid's and mysteries in the Bible like the constellations Dragon, Pleades spl. My girlfriends and I also liked romance magazines after we married.
When we were RVing fairly regularly, many campgrounds offered a free book exchange in the campground laundry facility. I always looked forward to trading my paperbacks for some new material. Found a lot of gems in those that I wouldn't have bothered to read if not for the book exchange.
Seems I mentioned this before,so short version...my mother had me reading all the time by age 7. We would go to library check out Nero Wolf, Earl Stanley Gardner, a host of authors. She never seemed to worry about dirty words, or details about birth in books. I loved reading,and have read ever since. I did stop few years back, why don't know. But today I check out book in library while we were there for cake day. The Housemaids Secret by Freida McFadden - just finished ch 2 and it is good!
Before the web, I'd use mine and Jakes library cards to check out 25 books, limit on one was 10. I wanted to know about the Middle East when studying the Bible and American history. I also liked some fiction.
I have the same problem with small print books. That's one plus of an e-reader, you can adjust the font size and appearance to make it easier to see.
I was pretty bad about this. In the 8th grade I read a book nearly every day during class time. After failing to trip me up with questions teachers stopped bugging me about it. I went through a good chunk of the library that year, though mostly from the juvenile ("young adult") science fiction section. 4.0 average that year.
Yes, and it sure is nice to have that now. No secret I didn't care much for English, unless it was a story about the history of it of course.
I had forgotten about the book club. When I was a young bride I signed up for one of those... I think it was one where you got 5 or 6 books free if you signed up for a year or something. I didn't know how to cook when I got married (at 18 ), but I ordered cookbooks and learned.
I won't brag about PSAT/SAT/ACT scores, but I always felt cheated that families with money could send their kids to cram courses so they obtained overvalued scores. I walked in naked on my own, sat down, and took these tests. The U.S. Navy dragged me in to take the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery (ASVAB) and I did well enough they were after me for years to consider enlistment and their college ROTC program. That went far beyond tests like the SAT in exploring several types of reasoning in addition to more academic skills. I never "bit" because I didn't want to end up in New Jersey shoveling pitchblende into a refinery or something. LOL. I did get several tours of civilian nuclear power plants out of it. Point being (aside from the clerical speed and accuracy tests and mechanical reasoning tests) reading speed and comprehension ability was crucial.