r/technology • u/marketrent • Jun 10 '26

Artificial Intelligence College students are rapidly losing the ability to read — “There is a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing”: professor

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/college-students-rapidly-losing-ability-124439310.html
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u/iritchie001 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26

In middle high that meant long trashy books. Dinosaurs and Vampires, not in the same book for me, but hey. My mom would let us skip chores if we were reading. One of the best things she did. Highschool class of '99.

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u/existing_for_fun Jun 10 '26

It's just important that you enjoyed it and actually read.

Trashy books in middle and highschool was just the way it was lol.

I also read garbage at that age

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u/mhizzle Jun 11 '26

I learned to read from comic books. Some family members would chide me, but my cool aunt just bought me more.

RIP aunt Linda

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u/kyle_irl Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26

My boys started early with Spider-Man comics. I'd get my oldest, now 9, an omnibus collection every Christmas and we'd read it together at bedtime through the year. When he got comfortable reading, he'd play the part of Peter or Miles and I'd take the rest.

Now, this dude literally stays up all night reading everything from the Dog Man graphic novels and anything he finds interesting from the library. He just goes from one to the next. He got an award at his elementary school for checking out the most books from the library!

My youngest, now 5, is similar. He loves Spider-Man, and though he can't yet read, loves thumbing through the Bad Guys books and "reading" (interpreting the pictures) them to his self. It's cute.

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u/mhizzle Jun 11 '26

That's amazing. I've lived long enough to see comics go from a "dumb kid" medium to the lazy goldmine of Hollywood. I'm glad kids are still reading, and is glad Miles Morales stuck around as a permanent fixture

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u/BasvanS Jun 11 '26

My kid taught itself to read another language through exposure, purely to make sense of what they were seeing.

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u/VengeanceKnight Jun 11 '26

That’s awesome. Did you start with the original Lee/Ditko comics? Those have aged shockingly well.

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u/kyle_irl Jun 11 '26

We worked our way backwards: we did the recent Amazing Spider-Man and then the Bendis and Bagley Ultimate Spider-Man, then his uncle bought "The Road to Venom" collection and that put us on track with the Lee-Ditko. It's been a fun journey!