Will The Future Make Reading More Appealing?

By Yosef Solomon on Mar 23, 2010

Growing up I always associated reading with school. It was “uncool” to read if it wasn’t for a class project or a popular magazine. I’m not sure if this connotation still applies, but judging by the popularity of the libraries and bookstores, I’d say it still does. So how do we make reading more appealing to the younger generation? Specifically Generation Y.

I can honestly say that I didn’t start reading for recreation until I graduated college. My reasoning behind this? “Why would I want to read for fun, when I have 3 textbooks and 2 chapter books to read for my other classes.” I never felt like reading outside of my classes mattered. Not in middle school, high school or college.

In retrospect, I think this was a big mistake. By abandoning recreational reading, I was missing out on ideas, thoughts, and all the other cool revelations we get when we read. The question I often ask myself is, why is reading so unpopular to the younger generation? In the past twenty years, we’ve seen a wealth of multi-million dollar projects aimed at emphasizing how important reading is. From the NBA’s “Reading is Fundamental” program to the NAE “Read Across America”, large organizations continue to push the “reading movement.” I can definitely admire their intent and concern, but I wonder what other avenues we can propel to activate reading amongst the youth.

In recent weeks, we’ve seen the buzz from Apple’s iPad take over the web and popular media based on its futuristic innovation. As we continue to progress through next decade of this century, we will see more content turn digital. How will this change reading for our youth? I think it has the power to redefine schools, institutions and the traditional model of reading. Textbooks will be in the next 10 years and teachers will be forced to revamp the traditional lecture/note-taking style that is currently taught today.

Being that I’m an advocate for new technology and embrace most innovative new techologies, I may be biased in my outlook for the future. But, I definitely think that in the near future we’ll start seeing new behaviors in the way we read, annotate and consume the written word. I’m optimistic that this new way of consumption will not only “save trees,” but also make reading fun for the youth.