The New Bibliophobes

In his article The New Bibliophobes, Emory University English professor Mark Bauerlein documents the rise of a contrary attitude to reading in the teen and young adult population. Citing research done by the Chronicle of Higher Education, the National Endowment for the Arts, and data by the National Assessment of Education Progress he describes this withdrawal from books. The prevailing opinion of today’s youth is that a rise in digital devices has rendered books obsolete. Many now view book literacy as a lesser form of literacy.

He continues his discussion by identifying one of the reasons this occurs.
"With the advent of the Digital Age, teens have more diversions at hand than they did before. The laptop, iPhone, video game, and Photoshop pull eyes and ears away from other diversions. The National School Boards Association estimates social networking time at nine hours per week, and Nielsen reports that teens average 2,272 text messages per month. Television time remains high (the American Time Use Survey rates it as still the most popular activity for fifteen-to nineteen-year-olds), so digital tools take minutes from elsewhere. Books and reading inevitably go down"(Bauerlein, 2008, p.88).

He also notes how this contrary attitude is often supported by prominent figures not only in our media culture, but in education as well. Randy Bomer, a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English argued that adolescents are the experts in emerging forms of information and even suggested that this awareness gave them “vast reserves of knowledge about how what they are watching now exists in dialogue with older stories, characters, and forms” (p. 88).

Bauerlein disagrees, but acknowledges that Bomer’s ideas encapsulate arguments that the nature of literacy has changed. Many people feel “that the import of books and the practice of literacy themselves have changed, and we should recognize a new order of reading and text in the world” (p. 89). E-literacy, it is argued has replaced the need for academic literacy. For example spelling and synonyms are unnecessary because those tools are available on a computer. Proponents of this position argue this is what it takes to make it in the digital (modern) marketplace. Students who have this literacy will know how to navigate the digitization of business and the practices it will require.

The author asks the following questions in response: “If the young have acquired so much digital proficiency, and if digital technology exercises their intellectual faculties so well, then why haven’t knowledge and skill levels risen accordingly? If the Information Age solicits quicker and savvier literacies, why do so many entrants into college and work end up in remediation” (p.91)?

I would like to see the author extend his response. Proponents of e-literacy could simply argue that students and workers are being measured or reviewed with outdate metrics. What is not questioned here is the fundamental position that anything digital or technological is inherently superior. What is being cultivated in the guise of a progressive modernity is an increasing reliance upon external devices as a way of interacting and extending oneself into the world. A rich and varied range of existential experience is being largely ignored in favor of technocratic tools that focus and utilize consciousness in very specific ways. If we only elevate the technocratic tools we devalue a large portion of our humanistic heritage. We lose our connection to the natural world, to the value of interpersonal relationships, to right brain qualities, and to the archetypal/mystical realms of the psyche. If we can’t see the value in reading a book for pleasure, how can we expect to teach our children the value of being able to sit with another? Being physically present and supporting with voice and touch is not the same as sending a note on facebook. Few would argue that it is, yet we don’t apply this same form of questioning when people suggest that in light of emerging technologies, books no longer have a role. Technology and e-literacy are of tremendous value. Students should be given an opportunity to learn how to utilize technology. This does not mean, however, that more traditional forms have ceased to be of value. Perhaps, rather than the polarized stance many have taken, it would be more appropriate to suggest that students learn both forms of literacy. I suggest this, not to simplify the contention between polar opinions, but rather becuase both have value that can be of benefit to our children.

Bauemerlein, M. (2008). The New Bibliophobes. Educational Horizons, 88 (2), 84-91).