Has anyone’s teen gone back to reading?

[Peddlefaster]

My teens used to be great readers until they got their phones and now they are a disaster, they never pick up a book. During school time I take the phones away in the evenings but they still won’t pick up a book.

Is there any hope for the future ? 😢

I'm not a teenager but I have done that to a reasonable extent. I got down to reading maybe only one book a month or so.

I have now pushed myself to Just Read. Even if it's not Good Literature or not high quality non fiction etc. Just read. And I'm now back up to about about 7 books every 4 weeks on average this year.

It's slowed down over the summer though, I need to get back going again.

My 15 reads a lot - but she reads books on her phone or tablet. Her tastes have suddenly become quite grown up (proper adult books rather than YA).
She has read some online that she likes so much that she then wants to own a physical copy (so if she ever became gadget-less I suppose she might actually read the physical copy 😂).
Could you encourage reading that way?
She also reads/watches stuff online about books, authors etc so knows what's new, what's trendy etc. She informed me that I was "cringe" for buying a Colleen Hoover book and they were "terrible". To be fair she was right - it was terrible 🤣

Sorry no luck with my two. Stopped reading once they got into secondary school. Not sure why. Used to be great readers at the primary

My 15yo was never a reader whereas I am so I despaired. Then this time last year she ordered a paperback of a book she'd read online. I forget what the final number was for last year but this year she set herself a challenge of 50 books. Not sure what it is now but at the end of July she'd read 46.

There is hope.

@Tiredbehyondbelief but I know why with my two - bloody phones

@Rockbird That does give me some hope !

Yes my dd18, read nothing between 11-16 at all and has got back into it in a big way over the last couple of years.

The trick was her finding the right books. Go to a really big bookstore ( her favourite is the Waterstones on Piccadilly if you are near london) and just browse. She spends ages reading the backs and sometimes the first few pages.

Yes, DD was always a voracious reader until about 14 then only read on holidays/every no and then. Now in her early 20's I've had to introduce idea of the library as she's buying so many books again.

Yep. Voracious reader until 12, now gone back to it age 15 (though not as much as before).

My dd was a huge reader as a young child-until late primary really. She was the type to ALWAYS have a book on the go. I don’t think I saw her pick up a book for pleasure until last year when she was 15. She’s still not reading loads but she’s definitely interested so I’m hopeful.

Gosh, almost the exact same @WhatWouldTheDoctorDo !

Oh these responses are making me very hopeful. I even bought DD Judy Blumes forever in a bid to get her reading !

Audiobooks could be a bridge, that's worked for my sister.

DD 14 real bookworm still. Ds 17 reading very little at the moment but hoping he'll be same as DS 19 who has suddenly started reading for pleasure again during summer break from uni.