A prominent child-advocacy group is calling for stepped-up research into the impact of digital technology on children’s reading.
“‘Reading’ used to mean sitting down with a book and turning pages as a story unfolded. Today it may mean sitting down with a device that offers multimedia experiences and blurs the line between books and toys,” says a news release accompanying the report from the San Francisco-based nonprofit Common Sense Media.
In a review of existing research and data, Common Sense Media found an abundance of evidence pointing to worrisome trends in children’s reading habits and abilities in recent decades. But it also notes a paucity of research on how increasingly prevalent digital reading technologies, such as e-readers and tablet computers, are affecting students’ reading habits.
