Many media reports focus on the issue of the decline in reading among high school students in Quebec. If everyone is talking about it, it is because it is an issue that concerns parents, teachers and politicians alike. Yes, again. Studies and research reports demonstrate it as much as statistics: young people interact more with social networks and media platforms than with literary works, whether digital or not.
According to data from Radio-Canada’s Media Technology Observatory, 90% of teens aged 12 to 17 use social media. Just over half of them use TikTok. The use of this platform is closely followed by Snapchat (48%) and Instagram (42%). These digital consumption trends worry many people. For example, several provincial dailies have deplored the digital habits of young people over the past year by pointing out the use of cell phones in schools. Initiatives to promote the physical and mental health of teens have multiplied. This was followed by the banning of cell phones in classrooms.
At the same time, the provincial government has stepped in with action plans to limit young people’s screen time. Launched in 2022 following the COVID-19 pandemic, the Quebec Strategy on Screen Use and Youth Health revealed significant warnings. The report’s findings confirmed the harmful consequences of prolonged screen time on both developmental, physical and psychosocial levels. In spring 2024, the National Institute of Public Health followed suit by publishing a report on the use of digital technology in the school context. Here too, researchers expressed substantial reservations about the effects of digital reading on students’ reading comprehension.
Well-founded and legitimate, these concerns shared by all bring us back to the following question: if young people consume and read digital content daily, and current policies discourage the use of digital technology for reading purposes (and therefore consumption), what about the future of literary reading in schools among young people?
I recently participated in a podcast where my opinion was asked on this subject. I am interested in what motivates high school students to read. My answer is therefore formulated based on my expertise and the research that I conduct in the field with adolescents and their teachers. To the question about the lack of motivation among young people with regard to literary reading, I answer that today’s adolescents read, but they read differently. They consume information abundantly and instantly. Everywhere. All the time. Not Michel Tremblay or Proust, unless it is on the school schedule, and even then. I have more confidence in the results that come from the #BookTok hashtag entry. And even then.
Can we expect today’s young people to read literary works in their paper version with as much enthusiasm as they scroll through pages on TikTok? Is it likely that literary works will be taught today as they were taught 20, 30, 40 or even 50 years ago? Schools must be able to adapt to the changes our young people are facing and the realities they are experiencing. I believe it is wise to understand that literary reading has changed a lot over the last two decades. We must expect that adolescents’ relationship with literary reading will also change.
In addition to the instantaneous and abundant nature of content on social networks, which are read by young people, I sympathize with our teachers and parents because it is true that they face challenges that did not exist before the advent of the iPhone in 2006. This is one of the complexities of the modern French classroom: teaching the language, educating with a view to shared values, and encouraging young people to read literary works in which they can recognize themselves and which encourage openness, critical thinking and the construction of the imagination. All this, taking into account the fact that adults, like them, now depend on digital tools present in their daily lives.
I am working towards the renaissance of literary reading in our schools and I believe in it fiercely. Many of us are doing this, whether we are parents, teachers or mentors. Our young people are also trying to interact with a universe that is their own. It is our turn to show them the way. This summer, I am offering you a challenge: recommend to a young person a novel that has left its mark on you and explain to them the reasons that motivated your choice. In education, our role is to act as cultural intermediaries. This responsibility can be proudly shared by many of us.