To think that kids being great readers isn't so much better than being gamers?

[Utterbunkum]

I write this as a prolific reader. It was the family joke that I could be found with a book at all times. I loved reading, it was my greatest pleasure. I read from a young age.

But I wasn't a clever child. In every other respect, I was average, apart from maths, at which I was an unmitigated dunce (still am). This was later diagnosed as dyscalculia, unheard of in my childhood. A bit of a digression, but I think my maths teacher at secondary school, who was also the dyslexia assessor, knew something was off. He offended my mum once by asking her how I did in English and being surprised when she told him, 'very well, it's her best subject'.

To cut a long story short, my only skill (reading quickly and easily) has been of very little practical use. I got a degree in Eng Lit as a mature student, which did little to get me out of the minimum wage earning potential.

I find it interesting the importance people place on reading as an activity over gaming. My reading was just as antisocial (more so, since you can't chat with your mates whilst doing it) and the young gamers I know seem to be far more analytical and have higher earning potential than I ever did. My husband barely picked up a book. He is an IT whizz with a very high IQ. My nephew is not dissimilar.

I still love reading. And I do think kids who don't are missing out, but I suspect that's because my life has been so enhanced by it from an enjoyment perspective. But kids who game probably feel the same. I don't think reading is quite the superior form of entertainment some think it is.

• voracious, not contractors.

if my phone is going to correct me it could at least use words that are closer to my intended meaning.

I don’t entirely disagree, with caveats, and I say this as a voracious reader who has made a career out of it (novelist who also has an academic post in a combined Eng Lit and Creative Writing department).

My capacity for reading has to a large extent made me who I am — my parents struggled with literacy and thought reading was ‘lazy’, so I found the library for myself, it almost certainly pushed up my school grades across the board, and got me my four degrees on scholarships, when no one in my family had ever stayed in school past 14 (and strongly discouraged me for doing so).

However, reading was pure escapism for me. My childhood was difficult, we were very poor, and I suspect that if gaming had existed, and we’d had the resources, tech, privacy etc for me to be able to do it, it’s perfectly possible it might have become the thing I escaped to instead of books. The TV in my house had two channels and was seldom free for use by the children.

The thing that reading had for me, which gaming doesn’t, is the sheer amount of knowledge I’d absorbed without noticing, by the time I was 12 , without any idea I was ‘improving my mind’ — things like the basics of Greek mythology, the Bible, smatterings of other countries’ history, geography, languages, wildlife, norms of other time periods, folktales and legends, children’s abridged versions of adult classics (an anthology about horses had an extract from Anna Karenina!), the Brontës (via an Antonia Forest novel about children inventing an imaginary world in their Christmas holidays) falconry (Forest again), the life and work of Shakespeare (Forest again!)

Reading showed me a bigger world.

It’s certainly been my experience that high earners in STEM fields are also prolific readers. It’s not universally the case, for sure, but the vast majority in the fields / companies / institutions I’ve worked with have been.

Being a STEM graduate also doesn’t mean you’re into gaming. A lot of gamers do STEM subjects, but a lot of STEM graduates are not necessarily gamers - whether or not they’re also into reading.

I also think people are missing the point that a lot of the high earners in coding / software engineering roles will also be, or have been, prolific readers as well as gamers. Most intelligent high achievers do seek information and stimulation from lots of sources.

That’s great about your son. Asian culture has had an increasing impact on western youth culture since the widespread availability of many kinds of Asian media, not just gaming. Manga was the thing in my youth.

Children are inspired by many types of media - a well research book set in an Asian culture might be a fairer comparison for the games that inspired your son. Such books have certainly sparked similar passions in others.

I would, however, have a lot of concerns about children learning history from games. Whilst there are some exceptions, most games really aren’t that accurate and have some serious limitations, just as historical fiction varies in quality. If you want to learn history, you’re going to end up reading, sooner or later.

Yeah, I agree, I think this whole thread is highly disingenuous tbh.

I loved Antonia Forest's books and still think about them. Are they still in publication?

I read so much, I couldn’t get enough of it. I do have really good general knowledge. However, I’m pretty sure I read partly because there was naff all on TV (born in early 70s) and the gaming industry was in its infancy. I did like being by myself. But would I have read so much if I’d had technology at my fingertips - probably not. Two of my DC were avid readers but we lost them to tech once they got their phones in year 7.

Nobody who shuts themselves in a room all day is likely to have a good social life, whether or not they spend their time reading or gaming.

Interesting. It's certainly not been my experience, but as @Spinet said, happy to be proved wrong. It could, again, be a difference in terms of types of reading, certainly many more STEM oriented folk I have known are not huge readers of fiction, some even (a small amount) are somewhat scathing about fiction. Non- fiction, yes, I would concede.
Which comes back to an important point that has been made throughout this thread. The blanket assumption that reading is automatically 'better' regardless of quality remains a blanket assumption.

@horseyhorsey17 why? I think it's provoked an interesting and thought inducing discussion.

@HarpyRampant that's great! And amazing on being a novelist, well done!

I am STEM and don't read much.

STEM is generally about finding solutions to problems and in todays commercial environment as quickly and efficiently (low cost) as possible.

What I do think I am good at is finding relevant information quickly and then making use of it, and that is far more useful than having a lot of knowledge. To me anyway.

I think people place the greatest value on what they did as a kid. My parents didn't have TV, so though I watched too much. I think my kids watch far too much garbage on youtube and should try watching some proper telly or a film instead. I'm sure if they have kids, they will think the same about whatever comes next.

@11NigelTufnel good point.

It's probably true. A lot of people who criticise gaming have little experience of it.

It does have relevance in the real world though.

I would guess a kid who locked themselves in their room all day playing Minecraft as a team with others on the net would make a much better STEM recruit than one who locked themselves in and spent the whole time reading Harry Potter and classic fiction.

That doesn't mean I think either of the above is a great way to bring up your kid.

Hmm I gamed a lot and read a lot growing up. I would say I'm pretty average 🤷 certainly not an IT whizz or fantastic architect despite the hours of The Sims I clocked up

I agree. I really have found it an interesting topic.

When I read the title I was adamant that no, the OP was wrong, but when I actually read it I thought about my own experience which wasn’t dissimilar.

I learned to read very early and read a lot, but I wasn’t particularly intelligent. And also, I do think my love of books hindered me socially.

I think reading and gaming offer different things, but ultimately reading is more worthwhile. I agree gamimg can be social, as games can be played together, even across different locations, while reading is usually a solitary activity. However, books can be discussed after reading, and the experience of reading them can be shared with other readers in a way games cannot.

Some games provide a story, which can be a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure book, if anyone remembers those. I think stories and storytelling will always be important to humans.

All books teach us something, including fiction. You can explore worlds you might never visit. Reading fiction written in another country, especially while visiting or living there, can really help with understanding how things are and how things work there.

Games are more like films than books in that sense, in the way they show you different worlds, but through the game developer/film director's eyes.

I would have to say that I think public libraries are one of humankind's few noble achievements, and the life changing opportunities for self-education they provide cannot be valued highly enough.

As a past time, I think one of the biggest benefits of reading is its intrinsic ability to teach us about language without actually having to try to learn. I think it's how I learn to spell words (I visualise the word written down), even ones I have never and may never hear pronounced aloud in real life. I think grammar is not easily learned by memorising rules and applying them, but from seeing the "correct" form written down over and over again, and just knowing when something looks or sounds right. Esp things like the order of adjectives etc. Also, if you want to write well, fiction or non-fiction, you need to read imo.

On a personal level I tend to consider games as a time suck, and reading books is something I wish I did more of, so I've tried to be generous toward gaming here, but in my mind reading will always win.

I don't think I ever read a book without learning something. Can't really the same for gaming.

Reading is definitely better. Reading expands your knowledge and your vocabulary, your comprehension, your writing. Gaming is fine, but it doesn’t have the benefits of being a big reader.

i echo all of those who’ve explained that reading is so much more than entertainment. It develops so many other critical skills. I love this little video that I watched as part of a course on children’s literature I did recently.

for

There seems to be a dichotomy amongst posters about those who see reading as accumulating knowledge and those who view it as developing skills (critical thinking, etc). If you only believe in the former without the latter, you are bound to have a limited view of reading.

My 2 DS’s both read very well very early.
When DS1 was 8 his spelling age was 15 and they couldn’t tell me his reading age (off the chart apparently)
I read a lot and it bothers me that neither of them would think of picking up a book now.
Both are gamers and have lightning fast reflexes and great problem solving skills.
I for one am happy to accept that gaming does bring some skills.

I read a reasonable amount , 30 to 40 books a year.
As for gaming , the only game I can play is Super Mario, and I'm not very good at that. My DCs tried to teach me Minecraft and I just didn't get it, like what was the point of It? The same with Sims - i just don't get the point.

Reading is considered more nobel, especially if its educational texts,