Focus.Com on Reading.Now

It’s no state secret that there is a strong positive relationship between how much a child reads and her or his level of academic achievement. It has long been accepted that those who read a lot would not only do better in school, but also on a host of standardized tests they would face during the course of their school experience. The quantity associated with the reading experience is just as important as the quality of the material being read. (Bless you, Harry Potter!)

It’s also no state secret that television and reading don’t mix. Although this concept is somewhat au courant, there are some old codgers like myself still around who have been railing against television as the “anti-educator” since its inception. It doesn’t matter whether it’s “I Love Lucy” or “Sesame Street,” “Dragnet” or “Dawson’s Creek,” they are all one and the same--bad, because they keep children away from reading.

Have you ever really watched a television show? Things jump around, camera angles change and points of view shift. The picture rarely stays the same for more than a few seconds. As a result, the viewer needn’t concentrate--focus--for any length of time.

With a book, there’s nothing jumping around, nothing shifting from here to there. In fact the only thing that can bring that inanimate object to life is the human mind. Unlocking the creative potential of all those words and sentences and paragraphs and chapters requires concentration and focus.

Let’s assume that we all want children to be able to focus, to be able to stay on task, to stretch their attention spans. So, which is a better tool: a television monitor that does all the concentrating for you or a book that must be brought to life through concentration and attention? Which one can increase a child’s power to focus? Which one will diminish it?

And while we’re on the topic of monitors and diminishing attention spans, watch a child while he or she cruises the Internet. Clicking here, clicking there, scrolling up and down, moving forward, moving backward, e-mailing, instant-messaging, hyperlinking. The goal appears to be getting from one point to another, not concentrating or focusing on any particular thing once you’re there. Just keep moving.

It’s supposed to be interactive and educational, but I’m not so sure. To me, television and the Internet are starting to look alike.

Now I can hear you all chorusing, “This guy’s a dinosaur with a Model T brain. What does he know about racing along the information superhighway?” Plenty, having spent time as a computer education coordinator. But I also know what it takes for a child to focus, to hone his or her powers of concentration and do well in school. And that book lying on the table next to the computer is looking better and better to me.