From the time humans made their first markings in stone some 5,000 years ago, reading and writing has evolved to help people understand the world around them and the inner workings of their own minds. But the kind of literacy that was still commonplace a generation ago — that involving reflection, time and synthesis — is becoming a thing of the past.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in U.S. schools, where literacy rates have been declining for decades, particularly since the pandemic, according to organizations like the National Center for Education Statistics. The New Mexico Public Education Department published data this year estimating only 38 percent of students are considered proficient at reading in the state, one of the lowest rates in the nation.
Adults are losing touch with their letters, too. A study from the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy estimated that 29 percent of New Mexico adults aren’t adept at reading and writing. Nationally, Pew Research conducted a survey in 2021 that found around a quarter of American adults hadn’t read a book — in print or electronically — in whole or in part over the past year.
Why does this matter? After all, with the ubiquity of smartphones providing us 24-hour access to the internet, humans have never had more information at their fingertips than they do now. Over the course of a lunch hour, people can scroll through hundreds of items in a social media feed, consuming news headlines from across the world. We can scan scores of micro-blogs on platforms like X, Threads or Bluesky. Quick-hit video content pervades every corner of the internet nowadays. In terms of writing, the average person can fire off 20–30 texts in a single day without breaking a sweat, Pew Research also found.
The problems stemming from this frenzied daily digital media consumption are becoming increasingly clear: The kind of reading and writing that prevails in the modern digital space lacks substance, denuded of intellectual depth or rigor. The internet has become a mini-mart filled with digital junk food — content that’s highly addictive yet lacking in nutrients. This is no longer conjecture; plenty of studies have now proven the digital space is weakening our capacity to engage with more substantive forms of media that can strengthen our minds and attention spans, like books, magazines or dare we say newspapers.
Through our Newspapers in Education Program, the Taos News puts 1,000 papers in the hands of Taos County students every week, and we encourage all of our readers to engage with our opinion pages by submitting letters and My Turns about what’s going on in their community. Recently, we introduced a new column in Tempo, “Taos News Nightstand,” to let readers know about the books and articles currently being consumed by our staff. The column’s been a lot of fun for us, reminding all us here at the Taos News to spend a little more time reading outside of work hours and to reflect on the literature we choose.
Reading or writing anything longer than 500 words can be a challenge in today’s fast-paced world — we get it. But there’s a payoff that comes from putting in the effort, even if many of us have been distracted from that truth by the easily accessible dopamine dumps our phones, tablets and computers afford.
Reading a book or an article in its entirety can connect us deeply to a subject, broadening our knowledge of the world. And writing for even 10 minutes a day has been shown to improve both physical and psychological health by helping us process the challenges we face, synthesize complex information and connect with the current moment.
As Taoseños, let's all commit to reconnecting with literacy for the benefit of both kids and adults in our state.
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