Scholastic Study: Kids Want to Use E-Readers

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A new study says that the majority of kids questioned were interested in using electronic reading devices and believed they would read more if they had an e-reader. Then again, what do kids know? The study says that kids also count texting and MySpace as “reading” too.

A study commissioned by Scholastic -- the publisher of the 'Goosebumps' and 'Harry Potter' series -- found that 57-percent of kids aged 9 to 17 were interested in reading on electronic devices. Their parents, however, believe that using electronic devices of any kind limits the amount of time they would actually read, do physical activity or hang out with their families.
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As long as they're actual e-Ink-based readers and not general computing devices, I don't see how this is any more of a problem than pulp-based books.
 
What kids promise they do if they get what the want, and what kids actually do is two different things. I just don't see goofballs actually starting to read if everyone has a kindle on his/her desk.
 
I don't see how this is going to actually work. They're probably more interested in having a new toy than to actually use it to read.
 
We just were talking about this with one of our vendor sales rep the other day, combine that with the changes in Erate and yeah it could be a possibility HOWEVER what most of the kinds are probably thinking is that they will end up with an iPad that they can goof off on and like super cool with.
 
A new study shows that most studies are completely useless and that kids will tell adults what they think they want to hear if there's a benefit for doing so.
 
I don't doubt that the majority of kids wouldn't really benefit from such a device. I know adults who just don't ever read anything completely - and I'm guilty of the same from time to time, but -

There are some kids who are being truthful. I would have loved to have had a portable reader. I'm damned sure I would have read more, and I know that many of the friends with whom I grew up would feel the same.

I still want one. I just can't bring myself to spend all that money on the Kindle DX, and the regular one is too small for my textbooks. I'm waiting...until I feel I need one.
 
How about hmmmm letting kids read things that they can correlate to or hmm that aren't a pain in the ass to understand. I know I hated reading books starting high school because they were forced, boring, and had nothing I could really learn. But being out of High school I have been reading A LOT of books.
 
TechBoy said:
How about hmmmm letting kids read things that they can correlate to or hmm that aren't a pain in the ass to understand. I know I hated reading books starting high school because they were forced, boring, and had nothing I could really learn. But being out of High school I have been reading A LOT of books.
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True, I remember when my kids were young and we had them reading Captain Underpants, they loved reading those and it actually got them reading.
They need to make it worth reading or its just another toy that will sit and get no use, that we forked out a lot of money for, for nothing
 
My favorite part of the article

Of course, parents and kids disagree on the definition of reading. Kids were more likely to think that texting and looking at comments on social networking sites counted as reading, while nearly half of parents disagreed. Of those same kids aged 9 to 17, 39-percent thought that the information that they found online was always correct, suggesting that Internet usage decreased critical thinking; 84-percent of parents worried that their children have to learn how to evaluate far more information than they did at the same age.
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yagisencho said:
As long as they're actual e-Ink-based readers and not general computing devices, I don't see how this is any more of a problem than pulp-based books.
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Exactly. All for this if theres no internet access or ability to play games. I've seen my kid cousins handle an iPad... the only thing that gets used is Plants vs Zombies.
 
Carrying loads of text books around on an eReader is far lighter on the back than HC text books. eReaders are the smart way to go and these concerned adults are just more dumb noobs.
 
Eh, personally I would rather buy a textbook. When I was in college, I used to scribble all kinds of notes all over the damn things. I couldn't sell it back to the bookstore, but that's ok. It's all boxed up in my attic anyways.
 
My Sony eReader has notes feature and you can use hand writing with the stylus and make notes on pages too. On top of that it has a built in dictionary and you can get the def of any word by just double tapping it and being able to adjust font size is great for those with poor eyesight. The only people that claim they would rather have HC than an eReader are people that don't even own an eReader.
 
i think a reader is the way to go.

i would have killed to have all my textbooks put onto an ereader... along with books i actually wanted to read.

to be fair there could be a grain of truth to this. this gen seems attracted to technology. approaching this right could reinvigorate a love for reading simply because an electronic device is involved...however it has to be approached and marketed properly
 
Parmenides said:
What kids promise they do if they get what the want, and what kids actually do is two different things. I just don't see goofballs actually starting to read if everyone has a kindle on his/her desk.
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+1 this^^ exactly, I don't know how else to agree with this post :D Seriously, as soon as the "novelty" wears off they will be going off doing something else. Nothing wrong with that, but that's what we have trained our kids in today's society to do.
 
I admit that I read more when I first got my eReader due to the novelty and now rarely use it but that is because I read every day and almost all day on the internet, plus I am older so have read plenty of the classics already long ago.
 
aeon said:
I don't see how this is going to actually work. They're probably more interested in having a new toy than to actually use it to read.
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Yep, kids want stuff. If we want real numbers from these surveys (as opposed to something vendors can use for marketing) we need a stick: What do the kids have to do to keep them?
 
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