The good news is that today’s teenagers are greedy readers and productive writers. The bad news is that what they are reading and writing are text messages.

It’s an unmissable trend. Even if you don’t have teenage kids, you’ll still see other people’s offspring wandering around, their eyes averted, tapping away, totally     1     of their surroundings. Take a group of teenagers to see the eight wonders of the world. Chances are that they’ll     2     be texting all the way, even if it means missing all those awe-inspiring moments. Show a teenager Jan Vermeer’s The Girl with a Pearl Earring. You might get a quick glance before a buzz     3     the arrival of the latest SMS.

Now before I am     4     of throwing stones in a glass house, let me confess. I probably send about 50 texts a day, and I receive what seem like 200. But there is difference, I also read books. It’s a quaint old habit I picked up as a kid, in the days before cellphones began     5     in the palms of the young.

According to a survey carried about in 2019, half of today’s teenagers don’t read books except when they’re made to. What is more     6     to me as a high school teacher is the fact that almost two-thirds of high school freshmen read for pleasure for less than an hour per week. Nearly half of seniors don’t read for pleasure at all.

Why does this matter? Because, to some extent, this texting craze can and will produce a large number of cultural    7     who are cut off from the civilization of their ancestors if we don’t take some necessary measures.

So how can we encourage our teenagers to read books? Whether in the classroom or at home, one of the best ways to promote reading is by reading together. Another way to encourage reading is to help teenagers set a goal to read a certain number of books or read books from a certain genre. This will help them stay focused and     8     to read. For instance, if your child loves playing football, read the storybook related to football. Or if your child loves going on walks, take along some picture books to read along the way. By making reading more     9     and fun, we can foster a love of reading in them.

But don’t expect children to fall in love with reading     10    . When it comes to reading, trust the process.