The world of words can take you to where ever you want to go- from distant planets to the center of the earth. Teaching someone how to read creates a constantly developing and practical skill, useful for the rest of their lives.

Elementary school was the time where reading was fun. Students would beg their parents to visit the library and get very excited when the summer reading program finally started.

But, high school is a very busy time in a student’s life.  It is easy to be drawn into the world of pixels, especially with all of the technology and video games at their fingertips.

According to Time Magazine, “[only] 45% of 17-year-olds [say] they read by choice only once or twice a year.”

It would be the obvious choice to blame technology.

In an interview with NPR Radio, CEO of Common Sense Media Jim Steyer said, “”I start to see it in our 10-year-old as well because he is less and less reading, and more and more attracted to some of the digital media platforms that he has access to.”

Comparing the research from 1984 and 2014, the amount teenagers who read for choice is dropping; elementary school kids are reading more than older kids. Research also shows that girls have a tendency to read more than boys.

“I don’t have the patience to read. I get bored, and I feel like I have to have the right book to read,” freshman Ryan Tufts said.

If finding time to get to a library is hard, e-Readers are a good way to access books easily. The public library has a program to check out books online instead of just buying them all the time.

Between school and homework, it may just be hard to find time to read for fun, but this does not necessarily indicate that teenagers seem to just stop reading. For example, the Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Divergent, and The Fault in Our Stars have been a big hit.

The hundreds of users at Goodreads.com certainly contradict the idea that teenagers do not read anymore. It may just be that the right book has not yet been found.