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Casual Reading In America Is Dying And The Rise Of Electronic Media

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Casual reading in America is dying and the rise of electronic media is the one being put to blame. Research shows that people today are not reading as much literature in their spare time as they were back in the 1980s. Because of this, it is believed that Americans are becoming less informed, and less active socially. Electronic media is here to stay, and the amount of time spent on it will only increase. Although electronic media may be at fault for the decline of reading, it is a powerful tool that can outweigh the drawbacks of not reading the traditional way.
Americans are reading less, and it has already sparked some concern. The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), an independent government agency, conducted a 17,000 person study to examine the national trends in literary reading. According to the NEA, not only does “less than half of the adult population now read literature” but “the percentage of adult Americans reading literature has dropped dramatically over the past 20 years…and the …show more content…

Television, “the largest single medium by consumption time” (“26% Of Media”), is a good example to argue the mentioned suggestion. Television, like all things, can be a gateway that leads to undesirable or beneficial consequences, the outcome relies on the individual. If Americans wanted to continue learning, they would avoid shows that exist only to entertain. Instead, they would watch shows that contain some educational value. And to be informed, Americans no longer have to rely on the daily newspaper to arrive at the doorstep. Instead, local and national news channels keep Americans up to date with the latest information. The barriers that came with the traditional way of being informed have nearly become nonexistent and Americans can now gather information and news quickly and more

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