New analyses using data from the Monitoring the Future study indicate that, among today’s teens, time devoted to “digital media” – texting, using social media, etc. – is supplanting time spent consuming “legacy media” like books, magazines, and news articles. In fact, the researchers found that 1 in 3 US high school seniors had not read a book for pleasure in 2016, while 82% reported visiting social media sites every day. The reason for concern about this shift is that the skills and attention required to digest concepts in long-form writing are quite different from those required for glancing at or responding to a text message or tweet.

More about MTF data show high school seniors devote about 6 hours per day to digital media >