According to an article in the bookseller, a third of children don't understand how a book works. Many children start school trying to swipe or enlarge the pages. One assumes a great many of their parents don't understand books either.
With reading among the young being as popular as a trip to Epstein Island, the question has got to be asked, do you know any kids who don't understand how a book works?
That must be rather amusing to see a kid trying to swipe or trying to enlarge a picture or page in a classic book.
As with everything a child is eager to learn about the world around them, and when everywhere around them most people "swipe" on their tablet or smartphone, the reaction of a kid with a book seems logic to me. A few words and a little demonstration will certainly help the kid to understand how to handle a book.
By the way, there seems to still be some people to read real books. Otherwise how would bookshops survive, even if there number might diminish? In the public transports, now and then I notice someone reading a book, while 90% of the other passangers are lazyly swiping their phone...
It is true that reading is becoming a lost art. Too much depending on videos and computers.
When I was growing up and wanted to know how tall My Everest is, I'd go to the library, find the Encyclopedia section, and read out it. Now, kids just Google it, or if they're really lazy, they just ask Alexa or Siri.
Hm I personally don't know kids having things that bad. My baby cousin watches really simulating videos like Cocomelon from time to time and even scrolls on YouTube but it never developed into an addiction. He still enjoys flipping through picture books and loves it when someone sits by him and reads out stuff. I think parents should really try to find a balance between everything in their child's life, it is really worrisome that there are children who don't know how books work.
Children today have 3 seconds long attention span. It's impossible to read books or even to look at pictures in these books closely. Children psychologists today see Aspergers and autism in every child that finds joy in playing longer than 3 minutes with building blocks. Of course all books seller complain people don't read. Well they had a good run since Gutenberg developed printer press but now it's over.
Reminds me of when my mom tried to tell my friends mother her kid has autism and she yells "look up the criteria for autism, you have it too!" And I was crying. She's not wrong. We all do
I work with a lot of children and parents, and I’d separate “understanding books” into two ideas:
1. Physical use: Yes, I’ve seen 3–5‑year‑olds try to swipe a picture book like a tablet. But they usually adjust within minutes once shown how pages turn. That’s a temporary habit, not true confusion.
2. Purpose and habit: The deeper issue is attention span and reading culture at home. Many kids technically know how a book works but rarely see adults reading, so books feel irrelevant.
So: confusion about mechanics is brief; loss of reading culture is the real concern.
I hope this is not true. Every kid reads a book especially when you’re at school. I used to win awards for reading as many books as possible at my school when I was a kid. You have to open up your books not a laptop and do it online. You have to actually hold the book in your hand and read. Not everything works on a computer can you imagine being a fighter in the boxing ring instead of doing it in the ring you do it on the computer.
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