Teens ditching digital for page-turners

By Melinda Ayre|

New research finds adolescents prefer printed texts

New research from Deakin University has found despite our fears of digital overload, teenagers prefer old-school books when they’re reading for pleasure.

The study, done in collaboration with Murdoch Universities, looked closely at how 12 to 16 year old Aussie teens are reading and the social aspects around the activity.

According to project leader Dr Leonie Rutherford, Australian teens are preferring printed texts than stories on a digital device, with over 70 percent of the surveyed teens reading books at least weekly for pleasure, usually 15 minutes per day. And most surprisingly –  54 percent of teens surveyed, hold a public library card.

Despite having even more access to mobile phones, tablets or laptops – teens are not using digital devices to read.

“Our early findings are that young people overwhelmingly prefer to read paper books,” Dr Rutherford said. It challenges the common perception that teens want to do everything on digital devices, she adds.

The research is certainly on par with current publishing trends, with the juvenile book market growing 40 percent in the last decade, despite a decline in adult fiction and nonfiction. Children’s religion, holiday and nonfiction titles are the categories that are most up - while e-books are actually down, according to Nielsen.

There are two main drivers of the young adult publishing trend – movie and TV tie-ins make them popular (think The Hunger Games or The Vampire Diaries) and the fact that young adult books (aimed specifically at 12 to 18 year olds) are also popular with adults.

So while the last decade has dished up lots of new digital platforms for reading, the lure of the tactile book-reading experience continues to attract our teenagers.

"And a lot of research shows that reading for pleasure - sustained reading, primarily of fiction - is strongly tied to kids' results in school and their chances of getting better jobs later in life," she said. 

The research is certainly welcome news for parents, educators, libraries, good old-fashioned book shops and the publishing sector.

 

 

 

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