Bye bye books? More babies and toddlers use tablets, smartphones. | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com

Bye bye books? More babies and toddlers use tablets, smartphones. | Get Schooled | www.ajc.com:

Bye bye books? More babies and toddlers use tablets, smartphones. 

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Wired kids

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By Maureen Downey

Back from vacation today and catching up on new studies released in my weeklong absence, including one on media use by young kids from Common Sense Media.

For me, the most startling finding was: In a typical day, children under 2 spend more than twice as much time watching television and DVDs (55 minutes) as they do reading or being read to (19 minutes).

That does not well augur well for the next generation of readers. I am meeting more and more teens who do not read outside of required school assignments.  While I am seeing more school-based reading imposed on teens, I am concerned that fewer seem to read for pleasure.  Their pleasure now comes from Instagram, iFunny and YouTube. 

In an earlier blog, I noted: 

It is hard to persevere with “Old Yeller” when Facebook offers that heart-wrenching video of the rescue of a blind