Literacy Debate – Online, R U Really Reading? – Series – NYTimes.com

Instead, like so many other teenagers, Nadia, 15, is addicted to the Internet. She regularly spends at least six hours a day in front of the computer here…

The best feature of the Internet is it allows uninterested students in reading to search and read about topics of interest to them.  Using the library or the card catalog is never going to be the first choice of an unmotivated reader.  The Internet provides an easy way for a student to learn about a topic.  The reading may be brief, but it will encourage them to read more than they might read otherwise.  I often see students reading Wikipedia entries on comic books and sports during lunch and nutrition.  Few libraries would even have books on comics, and most sports books are out of date by the time they are published.  Unfortunately the ones who might benefit the most from the Internet might not have Internet in their house.  One reason why low performing schools should make every effort to make available time for students to access the Internet.  If they are reading what they enjoy, it does not feel like “real” reading.

Clearly, reading online is a different experience.  You often jump around from website to website, article to article, scanning information for specific content.  It is a much more a functional drive when we read online, often interrupted with breaks in the task, to play games online, chat with peers, and mess with our music collection.  You wonder why many kids have A.D.D.?

Most standardized tests includes nonfiction passages and questions, so Internet content helps students in this area more than reading novels or textbooks. But reading a novel from beginning to the end may disappear the way of the printed newspaper delivered to the house.   In the same way, I ask myself what use is algebra when I rarely use it in my life or job, we might ask the same thing of novel reading someday.

I read the newspaper on most mornings, but I also read online using a RSS reader.  This allows me to read a selection of articles from a variety of sources, more than any one newspaper can provide.  It gives me specific information about subjects of high interest to me.  I know every time I log in online, I will find something interesting to read, as opposed to the futile search for 2-3 articles in the morning paper worth reading beyond the fold.  I love the changes that the online space provides, but I believe it’s the decision of each individual to decide how they choose to read.  I’m glad to hear that teenagers are making effort to read online at all, and we should embrace this even if it might look different to what we are accustomed to.