AIBU to ask a 14yo to read for 10 minutes?

[TheOtherBennetSister]

Reading matters. It is a huge indicator of academic success.
Ds is middlingly bright and does okay in science, math and drama, but does quite badly in essay subjects - English and social studies.

He never ever reads. He spends hours watching Youtube videos on his phone, but never reads.

We've had a chat and I've said that slotting some reading into his life would be a good idea. He agrees in principal. I'm not expecting him to plough through War & Peace. Anything he wants to read is fine. Graphic novels, younger readers, Guiness Book of Records, factual books about his interests, ANYTHING. I've put quite a lot of effort into helping him find something that he might enjoy. Nothing appeals. So I ordered the local newspaper to be delivered every morning. He agreed to try it for a couple of weeks - just flick through over breakfast and read ONE story. But no, he's on his phone watching videos again. I've even showed him how to flick through, check out the headlines, and skim through something that caches his interest.

I'm frustrated, because I can see that forcing someone to read is not going to work, but I genuinely think he needs this. His brain is atrophying as he stares for hours at his phone. Am I wrong to push this? Is there a different way?

To be clear - there is no animosity and we're not arguing about it. I'm just trying to find a way to make it work.

That sounds great! What is the wellbeing app? I could definitely do with limiting myself.

Great update OP.

I'm not sure if it's an app or a setting on the phone, but you set times e.g. 30 minutes of social media per day and your phone won't let you access more than that. Dd says it works because you use your time more thoughtfully - no point wasting the only time you have scrolling while waiting to go into a lesson. Save it for the bus when you actually want to use it and reply to messages. Obviously it's self-monitored, nothing to stop you overriding the settings but assuming you set the limits yourself why would you?

The other thing it does is turn your phone black and white after a certain time. That means your phone still works if you need to send a message to sort out a lift or something, but it's no fun for scrolling. I think you can set that one to kick in either at certain times every day, or after a certain amount of time.

I'll ask dd exactly what she uses.

It's a setting on Android phones.
Screen Time does the same on Ios.

Thank you, I'll see if my phone does it, sounds ideal for me!