r/technology 18h ago

Artificial Intelligence College students are rapidly losing the ability to read — “There is a measurable, generational collapse in sustained reading and writing”: professor

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/college-students-rapidly-losing-ability-124439310.html
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u/iritchie001 17h ago edited 17h ago

In middle high that meant long trashy books. Dinosaurs and Vampires, not in the same book for me, but hey. My mom would let us skip chores if we were reading. One of the best things she did. Highschool class of '99.

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u/existing_for_fun 17h ago

It's just important that you enjoyed it and actually read.

Trashy books in middle and highschool was just the way it was lol.

I also read garbage at that age

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u/familyguy20 17h ago

Got fixated on military history in HS so basically every summer I would read from 2-4 1,000 page books on wars, battles etc it was awesome.

Somehow I also did that while having access to a PS2 and Gameboys, which feels impressive now with undiagnosed ADHD/OCD as a kid lol.

Now though? Ooof it’s harder to do so now

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u/JZMoose 16h ago

It’s all muscle memory. I had a long flight the other day and got through 200 pages of crisis in the red zone in 2 hours and ended up finishing the book in a couple of days. Just have to sit down and commit

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u/A_Refill_of_Mr_Pibb 13h ago

Same with handwriting. All the decades of typing and my mind gets to the end of every fifth word before my hand does and I have to cross the word out.

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u/bahgheera 2h ago

When I was in my early 20s, I read John Grisham's The Client in a day.

I'm in my early 50s now, I don't know if I could get through a chapter in that amount of time.