Reading is a fun and instructive hobby that has sadly been going out of style for a while. But when the pandemic of 2020 hit and the world went into lockdown, people were left with a lot of time on their hands, and many decided to turn to reading. Most people read books they had at home, sometimes buying them or borrowing, but very few chose to read digital books. While reading did become more popular, there was also a big group of students who read even less than normal, which has the possibility to cause big problems later on.
For many years, the reading habits of Western Civilisation have been getting steadily worse. Back in 2012, a study by the National Literacy Trust showed that there was a 10% drop from 2005 in the amount children and young people enjoyed reading, and an entire 25% decrease in daily reading from 2005 to 2012 (Clark 10-11). Another study by the same group in 2018 showed that there had been a rise in both daily reading and enjoyment of reading since 2012, which had been a very low point, but levels in both categories were still declining since the start of the organization in 2005 (Clark 3-6). The same survey from 2018 also showed a difference between the reading of girls and boys. Only 51% of the boys said they really liked to read, compared to 63% of girls (Clark 4). One of the biggest differences making this xx is a pure difference in temperament. Boys have trouble sitting still for long periods of time and a short attention span, getting easily distracted by anything around them, and wandering away. So it is harder for them to make a habit of reading than it is for girls, and sometimes harder things never get done.
But it was not just boys doing less reading. Fewer children of either gender were picking up books for fun. This was a bad trend, since many studies have shown that reading books has lots of benefits past the entertainment of a fun story. Reading is relaxing, which can make people happier, work harder, and sleep better. It familiarizes people with vocabulary and the structure of writing, making it easier for people to write their own xxxx. It exposes people to a wide variety of opinions, encouraging them to think for themselves. It gives people information in an interesting medium, that they can make connections with as the rest of life plays out. There is a possibility reading even lengthens lifetimes! (Fagan) p a
S There have, of course, been efforts to encourage reading. Lots of programs have been set up, especially for the summertime, when students who do not love reading fall further behind their classmates in reading skill because they rarely practice over the summer. Around four fifths of the students in the 2018 National Literacy Survey knew that
But now those benefits were getting lost as the busyness of life and the easy entertainment of the TV screen took over.
Enter the lockdown of 2020. Kids and adults alike were left without all of their normal occupations, to spend their time only in things possible at home. Unsurprisingly, many turned to the hobby they already enjoyed the most – playing video games and watching TV. But as the time stretched on, many people found these activities boring and xxxx. So some tried reading. A lot of people chose to pick up the
| Before the school closure | % | During the school closure | % | |
| 1 | Playing games using a device | 56.4 | Playing games using a device | 57.2 |
| 2 | Hobbies | 45.5 | Hobbies | 47.8 |
| 3 | Reading | 40.5 | Reading | 44.5 |
| 4 | Watching TV | 37.1 | Watching TV | 38.9 |
| 5 | Spend time with family | 37.0 | Spend time with family | 35.2 |
People were ready to read the books, but where could they get them from? Libraries were a wonderful resource that many people thought to turn to, only to find that libraries were closed along with everything else. Of course, there was still the option of ordering library books online and picking them up in-person, so libraries were still usable, and many people did xxxx. Online bookstores were another much used option, though a lot of people hesitated to spend their uncertain money on books. In the end, the majority stuck primarily to books they already had in the house.
This table gives percentages of all the different sources people chose to acquire books from.
| Sources of reading materials | % |
| Home (I have reading materials at home) | 73.7 |
| Online bookstore (my family members bought for me) | 27.0 |
| Public or school library (borrowed before CB) | 26.8 |
| Online resources/e-book | 22.3 |
| NLB app | 19.1 |
| Teachers/school | 9.8 |
| Friends | 9.8 |
Lots of people had books sitting around that they had been meaning to read. The hard, long books that had felt too boring to try to fit in when there so many more exciting things to do, were now given the time they needed to be appreciated. Some people lept at the chance to learn and investigate on their own while they had time. For some, all they wanted was a comforting book to tide them through the uncertainty they were stuck with.
Digital books would have been a great option for people who did want new books but didn’t have the resources. Cheap, easy to store, and always available, they seem like an obvious solution to the problems with getting new books. The problem is that many people don’t feel comfortable around digital devices as books. Most children and teens think of them as xxxx for video games and have trouble adjusting their mindset to open a book instead of a game. Some Singaporean students were interviewed who felt this way:
Interviewer: Do you like read in print or online?
Student 2 & 3: Print books.
Interviewer: Why?
Student 3: Because I can’t always find what I want from the internet. Also, some need to pay money, going to library is better.
Student 2: I like go to library to borrow too, ‘cause I don’t know how to search (books) online. Or, I ask my mother to buy. If the books are yours, you can take your own sweet time to read them.
Student 1: Haha, I don’t read books online. I play online games.
Interviewer: Oh, you do. Why?
Student 1: When I open my computer, my phone, the games are there, very convenient, haha. I don’t even know where to find those, those they say need to pay. (Sun)
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While many students found more time in their lives to improve their reading, there was another big group of students/children who had the opposite experience. There is something known as ‘summer reading loss’, which is what happens when students who are not consistent readers have summer break, and they do not have any reading assigned them over the summer, so until school starts again they do not do any reading. When they go back to school in the fall, they are at a disadvantage to all of the kids who read for fun over the holidays, because the consistent readers come in with at least as much comfort in reading as they left, while the non-readers are out of practice. During the lockdown, all the kids were out of school. There were extended breaks, the school that they did do was less productive, and they generally did a lot less reading than their normal amount. It was summer reading loss on a huge scale.
There will be some serious consequences in later life and the rest of their school years for these students. What was already hard in reading just got harder with the lack of practice, and xxxx. College will be harder than it needs to be. Even good readers often feel like they have a lot of reading to do in college. People who struggle with reading to start with are going to be massively overwhelmed, and have a considerably higher chance of flunking out. Reading is an important skill, and not making an effort to xxxx(give it?) to all the students who are trodging through right now without knowing the wonders of a good book, is an offense to them that will have a huge impact on their future life – both careers and free time.
Works Cited
Boucher, Abigail, et al. “How reading habits have changed during the COVID-19 lockdown.” The Conversation, October 5, 2020 https://theconversation.com/how-reading-habits-have-changed-during-the-covid-19-lockdown-146894, Accessed April 4, 2022
Clark, Christina. “Children’s and Young People’s Reading in 2012” National Literacy Trust, 2013, https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/2013_04_11_free_research_-_childrens_and_young_peoples_reading_in_2012_cyEveGL.pdf, Accessed April 4, 2022
Clark, Christina. “Children and young people’s reading in 2017/18” National Literacy Trust, January 2019, https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Reading_trends_in_2017-18.pdf, Accessed April 4, 2022
Clark, Christina, and Picton, Irene. “Children and young people’s reading in 2020 before and during the COVID-19 lockdown” National Literacy Trust, July 2020, literacytrust.org.uk/research-services/research-reports/children-and-young-peoples-reading-in-2020-before-and-during-the-covid-19-lockdown, Accessed April 4, 2022
Clark, Christina, and Picton, Irene. “Children and young people’s reading engagement in 2021” National Literacy Trust, October 2021, https://cdn.literacytrust.org.uk/media/documents/Reading_in_2021.pdf, Accessed April 4, 2022
Sun, Baoqi et al. “The COVID-19 school closure effect on students’ print and digital leisure reading.” Computers and Education Open, vol. 2, December 2021, doi.org/10.1016/j.caeo.2021.100033, Accessed April 4, 2022
Hupfeld, Annika, et al. “Leisure-Based Reading and the Place of E-Books in Everyday Life.” (Unsure)
dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-40480-1_1, Accessed April 4, 2022