Even if baseline literacy, the ability to read a street sign or news bulletin, is rising, the practice of reading an actual book is not.
This means literacy is on the rise. The author is one of many people who are concerned because our society is moving away from the novel as a form of expression.
I would argue that videogames are filling that niche -- instead of sitting and reading a book for 40-60 hours, we sit and guide a character and live their story for 40-60 hours.
The question here becomes: Are Mexican children playing enough videogames?
The brain has very high plasticity. It is able to rewire itself for tasks that are done frequently so that it is able to perform those tasks better. The ability to read, understand, consider, and analyze long-form text is a skill that will be slowly lost in such a scenario. And I'd argue that the ability to read and understand documentation about complex ideas goes hand-in-hand with various important things, including complex scientific research, the details of an M&A deal, economic agreements between nations, or application source code. Maybe the average person doesn't need to do these things, but if more and more drop reading, the gross numbers of people able to grow into those roles would probably also decline.
I think the general consensus in the scientific community is that reading enables more long-term brainpower than does television or video games. Staving off Alzheimer's is one area that is frequently cited as a benefit for example.
>complex scientific research, the details of an M&A deal, economic agreements between nations, or application source code.
Most of those activities you listed are what a ’93 DOE survey called “level 5” tasks[1]. Only 3-4% of American adults are at level 5.[2] There was a followup survey was in 2003, but they combined level 4 and 5 [3]. There weren’t any significant changes to the other 3 levels, so I doubt level 5 increased either.
Yes! I have enjoyed many novels. But people (including me) are learning English from communicating on the web. And children are learning English from playing videogames i.e. as a byproduct of something they actually enjoy (I witness it happening!)
John Holt: “I suspect that many children would learn arithmetic, and learn it better, if it were illegal.”
I read The Shallows by Nicholas Carr a while ago. I thought it was perhaps a bit alarmist.
Comments like yours make me think that, if people are really capable of so blithely discounting the value of focussed, solitary long-form reading, maybe it wasn't.
This means literacy is on the rise. The author is one of many people who are concerned because our society is moving away from the novel as a form of expression.
I would argue that videogames are filling that niche -- instead of sitting and reading a book for 40-60 hours, we sit and guide a character and live their story for 40-60 hours.
The question here becomes: Are Mexican children playing enough videogames?