Some disturbing statistics about weed*

*And by weed I mean books. This all goes back to the main issue at hand though, are kidz be not learnin'

http://www.humorwriters.org/startlingstats.html
1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.



Like holy hell. The high school statistic is lower than college because of the amount of people who go to college. Given the college number though, and together with people who don't go to college, literally half the country never reads a single book they're not forced to.

 

That is really disgusting to be honest. Truly truly disturbing.

 

i love books, this post makes me want to cry.

 

Just because they don't read books doesn't mean they aren't reading at all... I haven't read a book in over a year (excluding textbooks) but I read at least a 1/4 book worth of material everyday through the computer. Come to think of it, I don't plan on reading any books (excluding textbooks) for years to come.

Bottom line: I find reading tedious and boring unless it's about something that really interests me. Even then, I'd much rather hear or see it, not read it. Maybe it's because I've always been a visual/audible learner.

 

I love to read...and I find this terrible. Although, I never go into bookstores since they have awesome websites like amazon and ebay

I just can't believe this is what our society has come to...

 

for once i am not a statistic.

 

This is probably not true... the source isn't even reputable.

 

Most books are SUPER boring and I have a very short attention span. It's takes a really good book to keep me interested.

 

Going by anecdotal evidence, you're right it's probably not true, it's in fact much worse than they state. And this is from 2003, which means the studies used are from even before then, before wikipedia took over the world.

 

It's simply a dying medium, like people berating the death of newspapers that's simply being replaced by internet sources. Brudof is right, most people read things like forum posts instead of a book. However, I would say that while reading skills don't suffer per se, the comprehension of a complex, analytical hypothesis goes over most people's attention spans in an a age of tweets and text messages 160 characters or less. For example, look at how hard it is for people to write an essay nowadays. The book Distracted deals with this topic and the coming of an intellectual dark age.

 

The last one is stupid because the real reason that many people haven't been in a bookstore in that many years is because books cost way too fucking much. I'll just go to the library.

 

I also think that those stats are off, but my thoughts are that even less people read books after school

 

Wow. This is.....very, very sad, and downright disturbing.

 

If books are dying, why is Amazon.com, E-Readers, and Bookstores not going out of business?

I don't think it's that bad. Yes, reading isn't a part of everyone's life, whether because they don't want to, or because they are just too busy. It doesn't mean that they are getting stupider. More people are going to Graduate school than ever before, more people can read, etc.

Attention spans, however, are probably getting worse.

 

Fuck yeah reading is for douche bags! I think the only books I read for fun were captain underpants series (the shyt) and holes (also da shyt.)
Some people just don't like wasting their life away staring at walls upon walls of words.
But, I do read hipforums, because it has info that interests me and you don't have to read through a bunch of bs to find what you are looking for

 

And this ladies and gentleman is why half our college graduates never read a book again they don't have to.

 

I know a lot of intelligient and free thinking individuals who do not enjoy reading books. That doesn't mean they don't read other things; One can be an intellectually curious person without picking up a book. There are other ways to research and become a lifelong learner.

with that being said, this is still a little sad. I've always thought that people that don't enjoy reading have no clue what they are missing out on!

 

I love books... especially the classics. Right now I'm reading Clockwork Orange and next I'm planning on reading Grapes of Wrath...

 

i agree

i read all the time (mostly non-fiction), and the price of books continues to astonish me.. 35$ for a fucking hardcover book?? its just ridiculous... no wonder people dont read; they can play video games for just about as cheap

 

LOL it feels good :sunny: