Is technology challenging children’s reading?

Submitted by: The Two Sides Team October 11, 2013

Report reveals a significant fall in the number of children reading or being read to on a weekly basis

Nielsen Book has released its UK research project Understanding the Children's Book Consumer in the Digital Age. Now in its second year the report revealed a significant fall in the number of children reading or being read to on a weekly basis, with the proportion of occasional and non-readers among children aged 0-17 rising to 28%, up from 20% in 2012.

Jo Henry, presenting the findings of the Nielsen UK research at the Booksellers Children's Conference commented: "This dramatic drop in engagement with reading, (seen in the context of an 8% drop in the number of books bought for 0-17s) in the first half of 2013 will give pause
for thought for anyone involved in Children's publishing, particularly at the older end of the market which has seen the greatest decline."

The Nielsen report reveals that during 2013, children's access to and use of tablets more than doubled over the previous year and that although these devices are being used for a range of activities, reading is perhaps the least important. Only 20% of children using tablet devices used them for reading e-books, with 6% using them for reading magazines and comics.

Understanding the Children's Book Consumer in the Digital Age further reveals that it is not just reading that is suffering in today's interconnected world. The three key activities being done by more children in 2013 than in 2012 is the use of games apps, visiting YouTube and texting, with gaming the most popular activity on a mobile device; the switch from using a dedicated games console to playing games online is very noticeable. Interestingly, the proportion of children reading digitally has increased in some age groups. Between 25-33% have done so overall, and a small but significant proportion of 14-17 year olds report that they now only read in digital format. This age group also recorded the biggest year-on-year (YoY) increase in those who had read e-books/book apps at all and are now the only age group to prefer dedicated e-readers. There is a decrease in the amount of reading that children are doing, there is no sign that attitudes towards reading are becoming more negative.

Jo Henry concluded: "The challenge for publishers is to find fresh compelling content to compete with the activities (principally gaming and communication with their peers) that are increasingly now attracting the interest of children in these age bands."

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