Teens still reading books in age of social media

Despite the prevalence of social media, two in five Greek teenagers choose to read books outside the school context, according to the findings of a nationwide survey conducted by University Mental Health, Neurosciences and Precision Medicine Research Institute.

The research, which is part of the Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) program under the auspices of the World Health Organization, was conducted in the fall of 2022 with 6,250 students from grades 6, 8 and 10. It showed that 40.7% of adolescents in Greece aged 11, 13 and 15 years old were reading literature outside of school during the survey period. Girls were reading more (48.7%) compared to boys (31.8%), and 11-year-olds (51.6%) compared to 13-year-olds (39.8%) and 15-year-olds (32.6%). 

Adolescents’ extracurricular reading also seems to be related to the number of books available at home.