Reading online, is it really reading?

There is a lot of assumption that kids now days just plays on the internet, watch reality television or T.V in general, and waste all of their time doing pointless things on technology and digital devices. Most people think that just because we are not reading a book or a novel that we are not expanding our knowledge and challenging our minds. There is much debate around the question, “Does the things we read and type on social networking sites, text messages, e-mails, blogs, etc count as reading and writing?” Some say that even though we aren’t sitting down and picking up a book or writing short stories that we are still learning many new things and exercising our brain. I totally agree with them. A lot of the things that people our age do on computers our parents couldn’t do. It’s not that we aren’t smart enough to read novels and write short stories it’s that we are a demanding generation with a short attention span and we have much more appealing ways to read and write now days. I found an article in, “The New York Times” that debates this issue. The article gives the statistics that the average time kids spend on the internet rose to an hour and forty-one minuets in 2004 compared to just forty-six minuets in 1999. I wonder what the statistic is like now I couldn’t find it, does anyone know? One thing that I think is interesting is no one criticizes adults on their reading habits. They can read manuals, contracts, case briefs, news articles, data research and many other things depending on their professions throughout their day and I bet to many critics that is considered reading but us reading and writing what pertains to our professions even if it is just being a student doesn’t count right? It makes no sense.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/books/27reading.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1