Kids With Computers Don't Read As Well

How come some children have no trouble with reading and others seem to struggle? Could it have anything to do with how they spend their leisure time? Researchers think it might.

Since 1970, the government of Sweden has measured children's reading skills in a number of countries, trying to determine the factors that influence them.

All of the studies carried out since that time have included the U.S., Sweden, Italy and Hungary, giving researchers a small control group of countries. Since 1991, reading skills in Sweden and the U.S. among nine and 10 year olds has dropped significantly, while it has risen in both Italy and Hungary.

While there have been many curriculum changes over that time, researchers say the answer may not lie entirely in the classroom. They say other factors could influence reading skills and have zeroed in on personal computers.

Since 1991, Swedish and American children described a large increase in the use of computers in their free time. Not so in Hungary or Italy.

Negative correlation between reading skills and computer use

"Our study shows that the entry of computers into the home has contributed to changing children's habits in such a manner that their reading does not develop to the same extent as previously,” said Monica Rosén, a professor in Sweden's Department of Education, and one of the lead researchers. “By comparing countries over time we can see a negative correlation between change in reading achievement and change in spare time computer habits which indicates that reading ability falls as leisure use of computers increases."

Since the Internet became mainstream in the mid 1990s, many American homes have had one or more computers. As computers got cheaper, many children began to have their own computers in their rooms. As TV sets were to an earlier generation, so computers are now to today's children – a fixture in their lives.

Rosén said use of the computers doesn't directly affect reading skills. Instead, children are spending more time using computers than reading books. The researchers found that the frequency of leisure reading and the number of leisure books borrowed from the library have both fallen as computer use in the home has increased.

Computer habits at odds with reading

The new computer habits do not promote the development of reading ability in the same way as leisure reading of books does, the researchers say. And it's not just children who are feeling the impact. Reading of printed media has fallen also among adults. In many homes it is becoming evermore unusual that somebody actually sits down and reads something, Rosén says.

When school systems find that reading skills have fallen, Rosén says that doesn't necessarily mean there are problems in the classroom.

"On the contrary, the way in which computers undermine reading shows very clearly that leisure time is at least as important when it comes to developing high-quality reading skills," she said.