Its peer pressure. Monkey see, monkey do, and MOST children do not read novels or nonfiction text unless assigned homework. Also, US adults read less books these days toos. Kids grow up seeing their peers and their adult role models NOT reading and develop similar habits.

Now that being said...I would not be surprised if youth today actually read more words per day than previous generations ..We are staring at our screens all day and the internet needs to be read in many places still.

Nope. I read The Fountainhead completely on the John reading about 7-10 pages a day. It took forever, but ya know...gotta read something trashy while pooping.

Yeah fuck Ted Hughes.