"A study published by the American Psychological Association found that, “In recent years, less than 20 percent of U.S. teens report reading a book, magazine or newspaper daily for pleasure, while more than 80 percent say they use social media every day” (Twinge, 2018). Teachers and other adults have found this statistic to be heartbreaking because not enough teens and young adults realize the positive impacts that reading has. It has been found to help us decrease stress levels and increase our concentration, and it has also been found to help to prevent strokes and dementia later on in our lives. However, it doesn’t stop there - the younger we start reading, the better test scores we receive throughout our middle school and high school careers (Frantzana et al., 2018)."

 

Entering my senior year of high school, I noticed that many of my friends opted for using social media over reading books. When starting my research, this piece of information was a catalyst for me when doing my project. Many students assume that reading books is either boring or takes too much time, however, they don’t realize the positive effects that reading has. I wanted to show students that there's more to books than just Shakespeare and Jane Austen. Although teachers do put a large emphasis on reading these novels, there is a whole array of books that students can choose from and I wanted to show them that through my Instagram posts and presentation.