Literacy and Media

I recently came across some interesting statistics. Sometimes you need to be careful with statistics because they can always be skewed to show what you want versus what a different side wants, but these are rather interesting… feel free to interpret them as you wish.

I’m pulling these statistics from “Shaping the Story: Helping Students Encounter God in a New Way” by Michael Novelli.

Literacy:

• 58% of the US adult population never reads another book after high school
• 42% of college graduates never read another book
• 57% of new books aren’t read to completion
• Most readers don’t get past page 18 in a book they’ve purchased
• A poll of 5th grader’s reading habits outside of school revealed that 50% read 4 min a day or less outside of school, 30% read 2 min a day or less, 10% read nothing
• 80% of graduating high school seniors say they’ll never again voluntarily read a book
• 65% of college freshmen read for pleasure for less than one hour a week or not at all
• 70% of Americans haven’t visited a bookstore in five years
• More than 20% of adults read at or below a 5th grade level – far below the level needed to earn a living wage
• Half of US households didn’t purchase a book in 2001
• Customers 55 and older account for more than 1/3 of all books bought in 2001

Media:

• In 2006, the average American home had more TV sets (2.73) than people (2.55). More than 50% of homes have at least 3 working TV sets
• On average, TVs are turned on for 8 hours and 14 min a day
• The average adult watches 4 hours and 35 min of TV each day. Kids average about 4 hours
• Children who have TVs in their bedrooms: 32% of 2-7 year olds and 65% of 8-18 year olds
• 35% of children and teenagers have video game systems in their rooms
• 72% of kids ages 8-17 years old report multi-tasking while watching TV
• Children average 6.5 hours a day – more than 44 hours per week – in front of a screen (TV, computer, video game, and so on)
• 35% of tweens (kids ages 8-12) own a mobile phone; 20% use text messaging; and 64% download and play music on their phones
• More than 70% of Americans ages 15-34 use social networks online
• Nearly 2/3 of teenagers – 63% – have a cell phone
• Teenagers average 16.7 hours and adults average 11.6 hours of weekly internet usage
• Americans aged 13-18 spend more than 72 hours a week using electronic media – defined as the Internet, cell phones, TV, music, and video games. Because teenagers are known for multi-tasking, their usage of devices can overlap