Tim Gray, writing in the New York Reviews of Books, has a very interesting article that asks whether it has become impossible to find the uninterrupted blocks of time that are needed to read serious works of literature, and whether the change in the reading environment is also changing how books are written.
Ordinarily I ignore the "Computer Bad! Destroy Society!" arguments, but I have to say that what he describes seems all too familiar. I can't recall the last time that I actually sat down for two or three hours just to read.
I grew up spending hours each day, every day devouring books of all sorts. Is this a thing that's lost to people raised with Internet, Game Consoles, and Smartphones? Pardon me if I sound like an old fart.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Sunday June 15 2014, @12:00PM
"I'm sure you can still find kids who can read for ten hours a day on the weekend, if they can find a good enough book to read."
Harry Potter wasn't all that long ago. Having read the first book, I'm not claiming its high end literature, but it was effective at getting kids into books.
(Score: 1) by My Silly Name on Sunday June 15 2014, @02:05PM
Kids don't need high-end literature, they just need sufficient attention span to cope with more than 140 characters of text at a time (a lesson some of our politicians might do well to emulate). I remember reading Blyton, Compton and Creasey books by torchlight under the blankets when I was a kid. Joanne Rowling has filled the same role for a more recent generation. In fact, given the sheer length of her Harry Potter books, she has done an unprecedented job of claiming kids' attention.