Return to CreateDebate.comjaded • Join this debate community

Joe_Cavalry All Day Every Day


Debate Info

115
30
Its imporatnt Its not important
Debate Score:145
Arguments:97
Total Votes:166
More Stats

Argument Ratio

side graph
 
 Its imporatnt (78)
 
 Its not important (19)

Debate Creator

Deep(22) pic



How important is reading to today's teenagers?

Todays teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager even 10 or 20 years back used to. Why is it so? Is it because other forms of communication, learning and entertainment have taken over the ever popular "book" or is there some other reason?  What do you think?

Its imporatnt

Side Score: 115
VS.

Its not important

Side Score: 30
5 points

My guess is that the internet has made it so that Teenagers read more than ever - just in smaller chunks. Reading has been compressed.

Side: Its imporatnt
salihinMUFC(11) Disputed
2 points

It doesnt necessarily mean because we can read online news in the internet...

Side: Its not important
PungSviti(552) Disputed
2 points

I dont understand what you are saying

"It doesnt necessarily mean because we can read online news in the internet...."........What??

I am just talking about counting how many words are read in a day - and I think that it is proabably more for the avrage kid to day, than 20 years ago.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

It doesnt necessarily mean because we can read online news in the internet...

Side: Its imporatnt
4 points

I think it is important because reading is not just about communication or learning. It is an all in one package where you learn interesting and capturing facts and ideas from people all across time and space. Along with that you developer your concentration and attention giving skills. Most of todays "multitasking teenager" is talented but he/she has a very short attention span. This can be a problem in later life. Reading gives them much needed practice - practicing to concentrate and think in one direction keeping the mind open and responsive at the same time. Hence I think that reading is important.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I feel that reading is important as it opens us up to a world of emotions and helps develop our emotional quotient (EQ). In books, we are placed in virtual environments that do happen in real life, but may probably not take place in everybody's life, so not everyone gains such experiences. However, with good books (no matter fictional or non-fictional), we are put in the shoes of various characters, feeling the emotions of the scene through the different viewpoints of characters through the author's/authors' moving descriptions using the senses. The ability to empathize with different people's personalities and perspectives helps to develop our EQ, which is very important in learning to understand where other people are coming from and makes us better people.

I agree that teenagers nowdays have too short attention span and often cannot complete their tasks on time. This is a very pressing social matter because the next generation to take over the world cannot afford to be as irresponsible as to fail to fulfil duties punctually. Reading is perhaps the most effective and fun way of instilling self-discipline and sense of responsibility in teenagers.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I feel that reading is important to teenagers. There are many types of books that can be found everywhere, such as romance, real-life stories and humour. Reading not only broadens our knowledge, it also increases our creativity, which can be useful for students when they are writing their essay. Ideas will tend to flow out more easily as the storyline they got from reading their books are etched in their minds and thus they may think of the story and their essays will be easily written out. For example, as I do read when I have the time, it is easier for me to write narrative writing. The ideas tend to flow much more easily. I think that students do not really read is either because they do not have the interest or is too busy to use any of their time to read. Also, it may be due to video games. As there are are more video games for teenagers to play, they would usually choose to use their free time to play rather than spend some time reading.

I agree with Shao Fen that reading improves our emotional quotient(EQ) and it is very important in allowing us to learn to understand where other people are coming from and makes us better people.

As Shao Fen said, reading allows us to be in the shoes of various characters and we will tend to feel for them therefore, our EQ will be raised. I believe that as our EQ increases we will more willing to feel for others and be thoughtful towards them. Therefore I agree with Shao Fen's point.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

excellent opinion! in todays fast paced, competetive, consumeristic, globalised economy people only concentarte on their IQ and hugely neglect their EQ. and a lot of local, national and international policies are made keeping in mind Intellectual development only. this can cause complications because TRUE GENIUS is KNOWLEDGE + RESPONSIBILITY. Stirring in knowledge into society without taking into account the garnish of responsibility is the perfect recipe for disaster and should be avoided at all costs.

Side: Its imporatnt
3 points

Todays teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager even 10 or 20 years back used to. Why is it so? Is it because other forms of communication, learning and entertainment have taken over the ever popular "book" or is there some other reason? What do you think?

Other sources such as computer, handphone and television has replaced reading. Teenagers now spend a lot of time on the computer, chatting with friends online or going on the internet. Time is also spent on watching television shows, as well as text messaging. In Singapore context, teenagers nowadays prioritise studying, being "in" and getting the latest news and gossip instead of reading which most think of as a waste of time. Also, students' daily timetable are usually packed with activities such as school, tuition, other lessons, enrichments and co-curricular activities(CCA), so teenagers nowadays rarely find time to relax and do things they want to, like reading, hanging out and things like that. Even when they have the time off from school, numerous projects, assignments and homework have to be done during their so-called "leisure time", and teenagers would rather spend their time on the computer, television or handphone when they have the extra time off, because to them, those are their "leisure activities", to get in touch with their friends.

As technology is advancing at a rapid speed, reading is often replaced with similar activities such as listening to the radio and watching the news being broadcasted on television instead of reading from the newspapers. But by hearing, or looking, we might not learn as we will by reading. As we read, we pick up unfamiliar words along the way. And knowing how to spell the unfamiliar words, we can check for it's meaning on the dictionary. But by hearing or watching, sometimes, pronunciations of the reporters or dee-jays might not be correct and when we hear an unknown word, it might not be convenient to check the meaning on the dictionary as well. Therefore, I think that reading is important and more effective for learning.

In my opinion, reading is still important to teenagers, even in today's context, and good reading habis should be emphasised. While many might think that reading is useless and a waste of time, reading is actually a meaningful activity that can expand our creativity and also, let us get in touch with not only our friends, but the world as well. Reading does not have to be the boring activity which many students dislike, but instead, reading can be fun too. By first choosing the books or reading materials you are interested in reading, we can then slowly learn to gain interest from reading all sorts of books, essays, and articles. Reading can also be fun when done in a group, or after reading the same article or book, friends can get together to discuss about the happenings and their feelings. Interesting activities can also be organised by the school to promote reading.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

i agree with Eunice that reading can be fun (: I agree that by choosing books of your favourite genre, you tend to have more interest in reading them. It is also true that reading is fun when done in a group as after finishing a book, you can share your thoughts & feelings about a character to others. That is probably why there are book clubs all over the world.

Side: Its imporatnt
3 points

I think that reading is very important as it not only provides teenagers with entertainment, but also with knowledge.

Reading helps develop vital language skills and is needed in our school lives, as well as our adult lives. The ability to learn about new subjects and find helpful information on anything, be it academic research, depends on reading. Reading exposes us to proper grammar and phrasing. It enhances the development of our spoken language skills and our ability to express ourselves verbally.

As technology today is very advanced, most teenagers may not read from books very often. Instead, they would read up from the Internet. Internet has made reading more and more a part of teenagers' daily lives.The computer's ability to process and analyze data means that endless variations on reports and other types of documents can be and are generated, thus Internet itself is an enormous source of new information and recreation.To effectively utilize the web and judge the authenticity and value of what is found there, both reading and critical thinking skills are of prime importance.

Secondly, reading provides teenagers with enjoyment.The more they read, the better they become at reading; The more enjoyable the things they read are, the more they will stick with them and develop the reading skills that they will need for full access to information in their adult lives. Therefore,reading should be viewed as a pleasurable activity - as a source of entertaining tales and useful and interesting factual information.

Lastly, reading opens up our world and enrich our lives.Reading exposes us to the world around us and develop an understanding of and concern for the people around us. It also provides us with knowledge on today's world and increases our factual knowledge about the world.

In conclusion, reading is important as it develops our vital language skills, provides us with entertainment, as well as opening up our world.

Side: It's important
1 point

I agree with Wesley's point of view . Reading does open up our world and expose us to larger amount of knowledge . Most readers take reading as an enjoyment or hobby , so reading to them is fun . Yes ! It improves our language , and I totally agree to that point . Most teenagers are losing their fluency of speech and reading out loud or exposing themselves to more knowledge may just save them from broken speeches .

Side: Its imporatnt
19940621(2) Disputed
1 point

It is important to read as it will provide us with knowledge and information. We can learn from other people's life experience and not to make the same mistake again. Yes, Internet do provide us with a lot of resources as the technology advances. Reading will bring us enjoyments and fun as sometimes there are humor and nice description of things.

Side: It's important
3 points

I think reading is important because reading makes an individual benefit out of the worldly experiences of people and help shape an intellect out of that learning. Reading can expand our vocabulary and improve our spelling which is beneficial to students when they are writing essays. The world of books is amazing because every book is unique, when we are engrossed in reading a book that we are interested in, we will follow the plot of the story and the emotions of the characters. This makes us feel excited and happy which may relieve us from stress. It is fun to read new books and find out what happened in the book as it expands our imagination which allows us to see the world from different point of view. Reading can also be a form of communication. It can make one learn not only languages but cultures and rituals of civilizations by making an individual live the past, present or future of places he or she has never been to. When two person are having the same interest, talking about a book that they both like allow them to understand one another and how they feel which helps in developing a close relationship between them. Book is like a manual to handle a device called life where in there are so many possible situations and options where in what counts is the experience, we can learn from the experiences or mistakes and make the right choice.

Side: It's important
1 point

Fantastic point made! The uniqueness of every individual and their own refreshing way of expressing themselves is made more accessible in books than on the Internet. mind you, i am not saying that reading on the Internet is not beneficial. it is, but reading on a screen, with a mouse in your hand to click it all away the moment you switch off (FOR BEGINNING READERS) is not a good discipline. as a teacher i see students' attention span problem every day and i would recommend to you reading from books because it helps develop you attention span and gives you an insight into various life experiences of people across time and space.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I feel that reading is important to today's teenagers. Nowadays, all teenagers ever do is hang out with their friends, laze around playing with their cell phones or just glue themselves to a computer. They have no idea how reading can benefit us. To some teenagers, reading is probably a waste of time. So, for some books that have been made into movies, most teens would just wait for the movie to be released instead of reading the book. However, reading actually has much more benefits besides the obvious “increase our vocabulary” advantage. Did you know that reading also helps us relax and improve our concentration?

Whenever you pick up a book and start reading it, all you do is concentrate on the story and nothing else. Thus, you forget whatever stress you had in the first place. This is also the reason why some people chose reading as a hobby – for relaxation purposes. Also, I believe reading improves our concentration, as we have to concentrate while we read or we would not catch the story at all! Therefore, reading trains our concentration, which helps us in our studies or whatever that we do.

Hence, I strongly feel that reading is important to today’s teenagers.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Bernadette that reading not only increases our vocabulary, but also helps us to relax and improve our concentration.

Like what she had stated, reading provides us with pleasure and relaxation as we would forget about the stress we had when reading. It also improves our concentration as we have to concentrate to catch the idea of the story.

Therefore, I agree with Bernadette's point that reading is important.

Side: It's important
2 points

I think reading is still important to the teenagers nowadays . Knowledge is stored in many different forms , like on websites , books , magazines , newspapers etc . Even though today's technology is very advanced and learning or education can be carried out through experiencing the real thing (e.g planting vegetables through hydroponics) , there are many hidden facts and interesting information that are carved inside the books and other reading materials that students like us teenagers read . You may be able to understand what the process of experiencing the real thing is like , but you may not find out about other amazing facts about what you are learning . You see , both types of education , reading and experiencing , are important altogether , but you can really benefit more from reading than experiencing . Why ? It's because what you learn straight from experience may not cover the whole truth of the topic . By reading , you explore deeper into the topic and also , you can improve on your grammar and vocabulary standards ! Aha ! See , it's like 2-in-1 benefits package . From my experience , it's always great to start from Enid Blyton's series of books , they helped a lot in my grammar skills . As we grow older , our brains mature and we instinctively go for novels and all those biographies kind of thing . These improve our vocabulary and oral skills . Oh , and it also does great help to our fluency of speech if we read the sentences out loud . Without exposure to such important reading materials , teenagers are often influenced by the way people speak around them , like for example , broken English . This usually combines the disaster of mixing wrong grammar and pronounciation of words in speeches . Therefore , it's always to good to sit down in a comfortable chair with a cup of coffee , enjoying books and other reading materials that interest you . Hence , I conclude that reading is extremely important to today's teenagers .

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Shijia that reading books improve our vocabulary and oral skills. Because when we read books, we come across new words, we will try to find out its meaning and thus increasing our vocabulary. This is very beneficial as it may come in handy when we are doing our assignments such as essays, as repeating a word over and over again in the essay without using other words to substitute it makes story less interesting and the overall effect of the story goes down. Learning the proper way of speaking English is important as it does not only benefit us now but also in the future when we are working as it is a life skill.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Shijia, bravo! you have said something that is very close to my heart. i started my extensive reading with Enid Blytons. She is just an amazing author who writes fluent, accessible and interesting English which appeals to the senses in more ways than one. famous five, secret seven, five find outers, Malory towers, saint Claire's, the list could go on and on. and you will also learn about different kinds of people and various facts of life in an interesting and entertaining manner. Good Point!

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I think reading is important because of many reasons.

There may be many causes for people not reading books such as the “quips” of information you can get on the Internet. TV is also a major distracter. Making time to read is something we all know we should do, but who schedules book reading time every day? Very few would.

Reading is an active mental process – Unlike TV, books make you to use your brain. By reading, you think more and become smarter. It is a fundamental skill builder - books help to clarify difficult subjects. Books provide information that goes deeper than just classroom discussion. It improves your vocabulary – While reading books, especially challenging ones, you will find yourself exposed to many new words you wouldn’t be otherwise. It gives you a glimpse into other cultures and places - Books can expand your horizons by letting you see what other cities and countries have to offer before you visit them. It improves concentration and focus – It requires you to focus on what you are reading for long periods. Since you must concentrate in order to read, like a muscle, you will get better at concentration. It builds self-esteem – By reading more books, you become better informed and more of an expert on the topics you read about. This expertise translates into higher self esteem. It improves creativity – by reading more books and exposing yourself to new and more complete information, you will also be able to come up with more creative ideas. It gives you something to talk about – You can discuss various plots in the novels you read, you can discuss the stuff you are learning in the business books you are reading as well. The possibilities of sharing are endless. You can learn at your own pace – Where formal education requires time commitments, books have no late-bells or hourly commitments. There is new mental associations – As you read more books the depth and breadth of your knowledge expands and your ability to form new associations increases. In reading a book to discover the solution to one problem, you find the solution to others you may not have considered. It improves your reasoning skills – Books for professionals contain arguments for or against the actions within. You will be able to reason better with the knowledge you gain. Some of the arguments will rub off on you. Others you will argue against. Regardless, you’ll be reasoning better. It builds your expertise – Brian Tracy has said one way to become an expert in your chosen field is to read 100 books on the subject. It saves money – Apart from saving money on entertainment expenses. Reading books that help you develop your skills saves money. Reading books on how someone went bankrupt will be a warning to you against repeating their mistakes. It decreases mistakes – When you gather the deep and wide wisdom that books can provide, you are less apt to make mistakes. You’ll discover surprises - As you read more books as a source of information, you’ll learn stuff you weren’t looking for. Since so many subjects intertwine it’s almost impossible not to learn something other than the book’s subject. It decreases boredom – you will become interested in the book’s subject and stop being bored. It can change your life – It could be the first step in your path of choosing your own life and being free of old habitual thought patterns. It reduces stress - Many avid readers unwind by reading. TV as a source of relaxation is too full of loud commercials and fast moving images. If relaxation is something you want, turn off the TV or computer and pick up a book.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

In my opinion, reading is important. It improves our language - vocabulary and grammar. Reading allows one to explore different ways of writing and the different style.It helps us emotionally by helping us reduce the stress as we emerse ourselves in different scenarios of another life. It acts as a form of escape for the soul. The feeling of finishing a book and understanding the book is really satisfying and brings happiness(: at least happiness for me.

reading can add up to the content in our compositions and most importantly , our knowledge - about people and about the world. By reading, we can know different life styles of people and know more about their religion, culture and practices which is very important when we get into the actual world. Reading prepares us and tells us more about the world we would be going into - the adult life and also the working life . in other words, the society.

in conclusion, reading is important, as without reading, one's language would not improve. One's knowledge will be limited - one's horizon would never be broaden.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

good point made. in todays competitive world children and adults alike are so stressed that they forget to take into account that happiness is priceless. when you see interesting and upright characters in books going through hardships and trials and persisting on their chosen path you feel a rush of life in you and that gives you happiness. that is important because you get to distress and learn at the same time.

Side: Happiness is priceless
2 points

Aren't we supposed to write about one point only? Or around three points?

--

Reading is an activity which many of us might enjoy. It can be a form of relaxation to some but to others, they may simply just hate reading. They probably find it boring. They’d rather play video games, go out for sports or perhaps, do other things which they think are more worth their time of doing. But I do not agree so.

Reading to me is something which helps me take off all my troubles and worries which I have at that moment in time when I am really engrossed in the book itself. A good book can do that; a good book can somehow divert my attention away from everything else and make me focus and concentrate on just the content of the book. I am not sure with the rest of the people out there, but I know that there will be at least a small group of people existing in this world who will agree with me – a good book can do all those. A good book can also somehow or rather catch my attention and as I go along reading it, the book puts me in a state of mind which just seems like me being inside the story or instead, me being one of the characters that is portrayed within the story itself; me being put into the shoes of others who are in the story also. And that is what a good book can do to me – make me so interested in it that I can no longer catch hold of what is happening around me except the storyline of the book.

Hence, I agree that reading is important for teenagers, because it helps them to concentrate (probably only with a good book like I do but still, try to read a variety of types of books), thus they can also make good use of this skill by putting it into daily purposes, such as being able to concentrate without much effort on things that they want to do (eg. studying) without having being distracted so easily and especially so too when they are teenagers, because teenagers do a lot of studying and if one is not able to concentrate on things that one wants to do, one’s mind will keep on wandering off and one’s studies will be affected, since in the end nothing will ever seem to get into one’s brain.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I agree with Evonne's argument that reading is an activity that many of us might enjoy.

I agree that when I pick up a good book to read, I will usually be so engrossed in the book that even playing computer games or watching my favourite television programmes, may come second as compared to reading a good book.

I also agree that reading helps us to develop a skill of concentration and this will help in our studies as there are too many distractions around us, such as handphones, computers or televisions and at the same time there is just too much work for us to do.

As students, studying is our main priority, hence we should learn to concentrate and not get distracted easily. If not, we will never be able to absorb information and might not do well in test or exams.

Evonne also said that reading puts her into the character's shoes and the character's state of mind. I believe that reading helps us to understand other people better even though the characters in the book may be fictional.

The storyline of a good book is made to be as realistic as possible and from the book, we are able to draw out the feelings and thoughts about the character, which may also help in understanding people in reality.

Therefore, I strongly agree with Evonne's argument.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Evonne that reading helps us to concentrate better because I am an example. When I was young, I cannot concentrate well when I study, it feels like my mind was always trying to wander off and not giving my one hundred percent concentration to the work I am doing. However after I started reading books, I can see that I help me to focus and not get distracted easily.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I believe that nowadays teenagers do not read as much as teenagers in the past because of the technology advancement. In the past, there is no computer and television thus reading books became the entertainment for the teenagers whereas now, the entertainment for teenagers circles around electronic devices such as computer, television, handphone, MP3 so on and forth.

I think that reading is important because it broadens their horizons and knowledge, improve their English Language such as grammar and vocabulary. Besides that, it also helps the teenagers to be creative and broadens their imagination since they are exposed to many interesting story plots.

It may seem boring to just sit down and read a book but if one chooses a book that he or she has interest in, it peaks up his or her interest and slowly they will cultivate this good habit and eventually love reading. In addition, reading helps the teenagers to stay connected to people such as having friends who are also reading the same reading material as you are. So next time when you and your friends chat, you all will have more topics to talk about.

Thus I conclude that reading is important and beneficial to us. It does us good and no harm is done.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Yes, I agree with Peiyee that teenagers nowadays do not read as much as those in the past. Indeed, reading is important as it improves their language and also broadens their imagination. Reading a book is fun when you choose a book that you are interested in. As peiyee have said, reading do us good and no harm is done.

Hence, I agree with Peiyee's point of view.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

Today's teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager even 10 or 20 years back used to. Why is it so? Is it because other forms of communication, learning and entertainment have taken over the ever popular "book" or is there some other reason? What do you think?

In my opinion, I guess today's teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager 10 or 20 years back ago as technology has developed greatly and these distractions (e.g. computer games, online chatting, television pro grammes, etc) pull teenagers away from books. All these distractions may seem more entertaining than a book, hence I feel that these distractions are the reasons behind today's teenagers not reading as many books as teenagers 10 or 20 years back.

In my opinion, reading is very important to today's teenagers and at the same time, it can also be just as entertaining as watching television programmes or playing on line games as when it comes to reading a book, although there may be no moving animations or anything as exciting as that, while reading, it helps to develop the imagination about what is happening in the storyline and sets the mind thinking.

Watching the television programmes may only include staring and understanding the storyline and when the programme ends, we most probably get over it and forget about it until the next episode is on air.

However, reading sets our mind thinking as we wonder about what will happen next and the meaningful phrases and words may also help to improve our vocabulary.

Reading also helps us to write a good essay because of the strong grammar that we will possess and the creative and interesting storylines that we've read before in novels or storybooks.

The more books we read, the stronger our vocabulary and grammer will become.

Reading does extremely positive impact on our english as compared to watching television programmes or playing online games.

In my opinion, reading helps us to improve our english and broaden our knowledge. Reading is a skill that we must learn to appreciate and endeavour to master for the rest of our lives as reading will bring us forward to our future and our career as we step into society when the time comes.

If we had 100 million dollars with us, we can use the money to buy alot of electronic devices to entertain ourselves and the best thing is, we don't have to work, we can feed ourself for a life time.

But what happens if this possession gets taken away from us?

What if we no longer have that 100 million bucks?

However, with the possesion of education and most importantly the skill of reading, it does not matter if we are rich or poor, as long as we have that tool with us, we can assure ourselves that although our materialistic possessions may get taken away, this useful tool in us will never be stolen. There will never be any sense of insecurity in terms of knowledge.

With the skill of reading, we can educate ourselves even further and do well in life.

In conclusion, I believe that reading is very important to today's teenagers.

Side: It's important
1 point

i agree with fann that reading is equally interesting as watching tv or playing computer games.actually it is not only fun but it also make us search for a deeper meaning between the lines.

reading allows us to read between the lines in order to understand the story to its best,making the process of finding hidden meaning joyful at the same time.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I agree that reading is very important for teenagers.

Firstly, it helps us to develop our language skills and also help us to listen; it helps us to focus on what someone is trying to communicate. Misunderstandings mostly occur because people do not listen to explanations which lead to job loss, marriage breakup, and other disasters - small and great.

Secondly, it is the basic for us to inquire to knowledge. Books, magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the ability to read and understand what is read. We live in an era where we are overflowed with information, but reading is the main way to take advantage of it.

Lastly, it helps us to develop our imagination, different from watching movie where each scene are clearly shown to you, reading brings you anywhere in the world...or even out of it! We can be a king, or an adventurer, or a princess, or... The possibilities are endless. Non-readers never will experience these joys in the same extent.

Therefore, reading is a vital skill in life.

Also, I agree with Wesley that reading helps develop vital language skills and is needed in our school lives, as well as our adult lives. Many well-paying jobs require reading as a part of job performance. There are reports and memos which must be read and responded to. Poor reading skills increase the amount of time it takes to absorb and react in the workplace. A person is limited in what they can accomplish without good reading and comprehension skills.

Side: It's important
2 points

I feel that reading is very important to today's teenagers. Nowadays in Singapore, students don't really spent time reading books and would rather spend most of their time on the computer like playing games, watching online shows and blogging. Many teenagers thinks that reading is not important at all and thinks that reading is quite boring and will not help them at all but i think they are wrong. Reading is actually quite important and very helpful as reading can help to train our patience as reading books takes quite a lot of time for most people and reading can also helps in broadening our knowledge a lot and will help us in our vocabularly as books always contain many interesting phrases and sentences that we don't know. This will help in our composition writing and even in our comprehension skills. I also thinks that teenagers must develop good reading habits like reading a book everyday as reading is a kind of skills that we need when we go into the working society as we may need to read a lot of proposals and documents and may even need to sign some important documents that we will need to read carefully before we even signed it as there are many cases in the world that people did not bother reading the documents and signed it immediately and when they found out they had been conned by others, many of them regretted of not reading the documents before hand.

In conclusion, i think that reading is very important to today's teenagers as it will help them at all in the near future.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I think that reading is something vital to a teenager as it not only helps get information but also helps to improve the reader's language skills.Many teenagers now adays are not reading as much.I think that teenagers nowadays get imformation from other forms of media like television,radio and the people around them.Reading ca nalso be a form of time pass or entertainment.Teenagers nowadays have many kinds of entertainment such as television,computer games and hanging out with friends.I think they simply do not have time to read.They have to make time for themselves to read books.They can also read books in their free time instead of playing games or surfing the internet.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

Todays teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager even 10 or 20 years back used to. Why is it so? Is it because other forms of communication, learning and entertainment have taken over the ever popular "book" or is there some other reason? What do you think?

I think reading is important as it not only broaden our vocabulary, it also improves our spelling which is helpful when writing essays. Students nowadays would rather get their information sources such as the computer, television, radio, etc. They find that reading books or the newspapers is a waste of time and would totally disapprove of reading.

I feel that reading is a form of relaxation and entertainment. SOME people would spend their time going to the library to read a book or two, or even loan books back home to kill time. Reading books can kill time when you are going on a long trip to somewhere, such as overseas, or when you are feeling bored and have nothing to do.

Alot of people now have their own form of entertainment such as playing computer games, watch online movies or shows, going to the arcade, etc. But these are just their pleasure and I think that they could spend their time reading books instead of doing what they like when they are bored.

Side: It's important
2 points

I personally think that reading is important to today's teenagers. Although they doesn't seem to read good reading materials such as novels, but they read other reading materials such as magazines. Without reading, teenagers couldn't improve their language and increase their level of creativity when writing essays. Sometimes, reading blogs does helps.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

I think that reading is important to today's teenagers, as reading helps them know more words or phrases which can help them to write well in their compositions. Reading is also important because it gives teenagers some common knowledge and reading can help students score well in their oral exams in the reading component because they practice it when they are reading books. Also, when teenagers encounter a word which is new to them, they tend to look up a dictionary to find out the meaning of the word. Each storybook has a moral of it at the end thus, reading storybooks can help learn from these storybooks.

However, some teenagers might find storybooks too boring to be read. Well, they can try reading the newspaper where they can read up about what's happening in the world right now. If they still think that newspapers are boring too, they could read magazines which they might find interesting and attractive as their favourite singer, actors or actresses might be in the cover page. Although magazines do not have a moral behind them, like storybooks, or tell you about what's happening in the world, like newspapers, at least they find it interesting to read and at least they read, because teenagers nowadays like things that are interesting.

Therefore, i think that reading is important to today's teenagers.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

Reading is an important skill that needs to be developed in teenagers. Reading is the ability to learn about new subjects and find helpful information on anything. Reading is also the key to developing vocabulary skills and improve on one's knowledge of words. Though teenagers think that reading is boring and with advanced technology, they would not need to spend time reading books and magazines to find information that they need. However, they should understand and accept the fact that reading is a vital source of information and knowledge and it can also be a pleasure to some of them.

Thus, i conclude that reading is important to teenagers and teenagers should take up time to read.

Side: Its imporatnt
2 points

In my opinion, I believe that reading is important and necessary for teenagers. There are all kinds of reading materials such as newspapers, magazines, storybooks, encyclopedia and even dictionaries. There are a lot of benefits we can get by reading;

-enhance our vocabulary knowledge

-expose us to the outside world

-entertains us during our free time

-provides us with a generous collection of fresh ideas when writing essays

-gain general knowledge

By: Leader of Jemaah Islamiyah

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Well, I mean, you kinda have to read in order to be successful in life. Unless of course you are wealthy enough to have someone read for you. In that case, it's not that important. But for the most part, it is and should be emphasized in public schools.

Side: Its imporatnt
tingpeng(6) Disputed
1 point

How can you have someone read for you??!! When you read, you are the one gaining knowledge! If you pay someone to read for you, then what is the point?

Also, how can you say reading "in that case" "would not be important"? It is Important(with a CAPITAL I) for anyone and everyone to read. Reading should be treated as a form of self-upgrade, and not something you don't want to do!

Side: It's important
asdf789(350) Disputed
1 point

Tell me this, how do blind people read? Thank you. Some people may feel that reading is not important. Some would rather be deadbeats in life than to read and become educated. That is up to them. You can't force anyone to read.

Side: Its not important

I love to read. I'm currently reading the fourth "Sookie Stackhouse" novel, "Wuthering Heights," "The Chocolate War," and... I think that's all. On my list of books to read next are "Oliver Twist," "Of Mice and Men," "Fallen Angels," and "Pride and Prejudice."

Side: Its imporatnt

I find reading to be a very important aspect of my life, I try and pick up a book at least once a week. The truth is that in this day and age teenager and even adults find themselves wanting to watch the movie rather than read the book.

Side: Its imporatnt
tingpeng(6) Disputed
1 point

That would be stereo-typing, for I myself would prefer to read the book than watch the movie.(DIGRESS ALERT) When you read the book, you get so much more than watching the movie.

For one, there is more in the plot of the book than the movie (Otherwise, the movie would be at least 4-6 hours long).

And then, there is what you can pick-up(*read other arguments) from reading.

Although watching the movie can help in getting the pronunciation right (again, the America English VS British English issue), you may not really understand every part, because there are always thing cut out/left out.

Furthermore, the benefits of watching a movie versus reading the book usually results in the case that reading would emerge victorious (O.o).

Therefore, I feel that you are stereo-typing when you say "The truth is that in this day and age teenager and even adults find themselves wanting to watch the movie rather than read the book.", and I myself is proof.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

To me, i think reading is important. Reading broadens one's imagination and creativity. we learn more than what is inside our textbook and a great variety of vocabulary. Reading also improve our language skills especially grammar. it also help us find out about what people in the other country are doing and their culture. Reading helps us understand the world and also keep us updated of what is happening around the world. Reading may also change one person's attitude example Bible books. it allows the person to think positively and happier. most important to me, reading can provide me many different good quotes that benefit a lot in my compositions.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Xinye’s point of view. Reading really broadens our imagination, creativity and also improves our language skills. With good imagination, writing essay would be easier for us. While having good language skills and grammar can help us speak in perfect English. Therefore, I agree with Xinye that reading is important for teenagers.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I feel that reading is important to teenagers as reading benefit teenagers in many ways.

One of the ways is that reading helps teenagers to broaden his/her horizons. This is very useful as teenagers get to apply it in their studies and in their daily lives. How exactly is this applicable in their studies? They can use their wide range of knowledge in their school work like essays to make it unique and with great depth. The wide range of knowledge can also help them understand things that are happening in their daily lives. Reading also exposes teenagers into different situations that they may face in their later life. Immersing in the different situations, teenagers get to learn how to resolve the problems and this will help them greatly if they were to face such situations in life. Besides, reading also sends teenagers thinking and this can develop his/her critical thinking skills.

Reading can also be a great form of entertainment as it not only relaxes the mind but also helps to build up the vocabulary of teenagers. Nowadays, most teenagers have little vocabulary and reading can surely help them in building his/her vocabulary. With more vocabulary, teenagers are able to apply the vocabulary in their essays and thus improving their essays.

Today, most teenagers can be seen playing with their PSP, Nintendo DS and phones. These games have little benefit to them but one thing that I agree with is that these electronic devices can help the teenagers to relax. However, if a book can relax your mind and also add on you vocabulary and knowledge do you not feel that a book is a better choice for relaxation?

Therefore, I strongly agree that reading is important to today’s teenagers.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Cherie that Reading exposes teenagers into different situations that they may face in their later life. Teenagers get to learn how to resolve the problems if they were to face such situations in life. Besides, reading would also send teenagers thinking and this can develop his/her critical thinking skills. Reading can also be a great form of entertainment as it not only relaxes the mind but also helps to build up the vocabulary of teenagers. Although I disagree that teenagers nowadays have little vocabulary skills, I have to agree that reading would help them in building his/her vocabulary.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

1st thing I want to say is not quite relevant: Important was spelled wrongly ("Its imporatnt")...

2nd thing is that, wow... everyone wrote such long arguments....

For this topic, before I start, I must say that for me myself, I have always taken reading as something to do during leisure time - When you have nothing to do, why not start reading? Or even when you want to relax, only having a book on your mind, having only the plot to worry about, it kinds of takes you away from the world... so getting a comfortable place and just focusing on reading the good book can be relaxing as well.

Now, first and foremost, reading helps build a sixth/seventh sense - what I call the sense of Grammar. For people who read often/a lot, they find that when there is a sentence-structure error, they tend to notice it; even if they can't tell you why, they do find that it feels weird. This really saves time since you can do editing while you write, or when you are checking the flow of what you have written.

Moving on, reading also help us to improve not only our vocabulary, but also, our inference. (If you don't understand why, here it is: when you read and you come to a word you don't recognize, after some time of reading, instead of checking the dictionary[which SO ruins the suspense in the plot], you tend to make inferences within seconds, and this happens so automatically, and also so often right, that you don't realize. Getting the meanings right may take some time, but as you come across the words more, you will eventually perfect your judgment when inferring.)

Finally, reading also potentially make our writings more interesting. Recall all the plots you have been writing all these years. You didn't just think of them over lunch - you read it somewhere, and you remembered the style and plot. Then, you build your interest in one/some of these genres, and read more of them. Then, as you build up the lot of styles of writing and plots/scenes, you start developing original ones (be it that you take a bit of everything, or that you adapt from something very interesting).

Bottom line, reading is important as it greatly improves the quality of their writing, ability to infer.

That is how important reading is - important enough for you to start scavenging for books no matter the age.

EDIT: I want to recommend a book: "The secret life of bees"

It is about racism in Early America, love, religion, and much much more.

Side: It's important
1 point

I agree with what Tingpeng has said about reading in his argument.

Firstly about the "sense of Grammar"; it sounds kind of weird but it actually makes sense too, seriously. Like how he elaborated on it, "for people who read often/a lot, they find that when there is a sentence-structure error, they tend to notice it; even if they can't tell you why, they do find that it feels weird. This really saves time since you can do editing while you write, or when you are checking the flow of what you have written". If someone is able to do this, it also shows that he/she has make it to a higher level of English, as this "skill" does not come easily. It has to be developed through practice (which in this case -- through reading).

Secondly, he moved on to talk about how reading helps to improve our vocabulary and inference. Like he said, when one comes across a particular word more often, one would eventually perfect one's judgment when inferring, without having to go through the troublesome routine of checking the dictionary when one reads and comes across a word that one does not recognize. Also, after some time of reading, after getting the meanings of the words right, instead of checking the dictionary, one tends to make inferences within seconds, and this happens so automatically, and also so often that one does not even realize it.

Lastly, he mentioned that reading also potentially makes our writings more interesting. This is true, especially so when one reads about stories and yes, one gathers the "inspiration" to write a plot of a story and this usually comes from experiences, if not somewhere that one has read or rather come across before. And well "then, as you build up the lot of styles of writing and plots/scenes, you start developing original ones (be it that you take a bit of everything, or that you adapt from something very interesting)".

Hence, I agree with Tingpeng's argument.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with what ting peng had said about having the sense of grammar and improving our vocabulary. I think that many people also have this kind of sense. It is like some sort of feeling that when you know that something is wrong but you just cannot really explain it. Even me, myself had this kind of feeling. This kind of feeling is rather confusing as somethime you cannot really rely on it. Next, i also agree with that reading helps in improving vocabulary. In books, it is quite impossible for you to really know all the meaning of the words in the book but when you keep on reading, the author will like somehow explain what the word means by using the story to explain. next time, if you ever cross the same word, you may not be able to really explain it very clearly but you somehow still knows what the word mean.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

How important is reading to today's teenagers?

Reading is a very good relaxation and enjoyment. People visit quiet beaches or private swimming pools just to relax and read a book or two. Reading also helps to kill time when we have a long journey to travel or when we are feeling bored. When you ask for advices on how to improve English, mostly you would get , “ Read more books to improve your vocabulary, etc.” Hence, I feel that reading is very important to today’s teenagers.

To start with, reading has different definitions. There are people who read without serious thinking or really immerse themselves in the book. They may have words that they do not know the meaning but instead of checking it in a dictionary and remembering them by heart, they have the don’t- care attitude and just ignore the words. Furthermore, I doubt that anyone would not have any word that they do not understand in books, especially novels. These days, novels have their story lines mostly in England, London, in those western countries. These people have a different culture from the Asians and hence we may not understand what they meant. More importantly, The authors have a unique way of writing books of romance, mysteries, which have a great difference from what we encounters in Singapore. The actual purpose of reading is to increase our knowledge as well as to revise on what our brain had absorb but forgotten. People who reads a lot does not mean that his or her has good vocabulary skills.

Above all, books have been greatly replaced by electronics technology, such as iPod, hand phones which is currently becoming better in design and functions, PSP, Nintendo DS, computers, and all the devices that can be used to communicate or play games. teenagers should spend their time more meaningfully by reading instead of doing things that would not do them any good instead of gaining more knowledge by reading. In the past, people would compare what books they own but in this modern society, teenagers would compare their hand phone models, which is irrelevant to their studies.

Finally, reading would improve our oral skills and our written paper. By reading more books, the use of language would greatly differ and we would speak more fluent English. The good written paper actually needs creativity and fluent language which allows people to understand deeply what the writer is trying to express him ore herself.

Therefore, I conclude that reading can affect one’s live so it is important for teenagers to pick up this habit of reading and know the importance of it.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with Jasmine because reading does help one relax and kill time and while you are doing that, you take in some knowledge by reading instead of wasting your time by playing video games, computer or watch television and not gaining anything useful. i also agree with her as reading books helps to improve your vocabulary as there might be some good phrases in the book which you can learn from. Reading also does improve your oral skills especially when you read aloud. It can help you read more fluently. Therefore, i agree with Jasmine.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Reading has been a cultivation for many scholars and has great significance in ading the civilisation of mankind.

Reading has always been a cornerstone in whichever society, whatsoever ideologies, and regarless of the age we are living in. This is credited to reading materials as important pieces of valuable informations that channels into mass media.For instance, the newspapers we are reading everday is an exemplary in manifesting the significance of reading. Reading allow us to gain new knowledge, and to be better equipped with the things that is happening around us.

In teenagers's context, reading stands at an even more decisive position. Our teenage years is a period when, as students, have to make use of materials, perpetually exploiting the benefits of reading, in order to train us to be more cognitive. This fact is also true in today's context, when reading comes in many variety; such as internet: Blogs, Forums,Reviews etc.

Therefore, i conclude the that reading is imperative to today's teenager.

le khang tai

scss 2e5

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree that reading allow us to gain new knowledge, and to be better equipped with the things that is happening around us. Newspapers update us with latest information about what is going on in the world or the nation. For example, we would not have known about the current H1N1 pandemic flu had we not read the newspapers.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Reading helps in mental development and is known to stimulate the muscles of the eyes. Reading is an activity that involves greater levels of concentration and adds to the conversational skills of the reader. It is an indulgence that enhances the knowledge acquired, consistently. Through reading, readers can get to know and come across new words and phrases which helps to improves their creativity and vocabulary skills. These vocabulary come in handy in our everyday conversation too. Teenagers nowadays might think that reading is not as important with other substitution for the benefits of reading such as dictionary etc. Whereas,i think that reading is the most basic step to broadening you vocabulary skills. therefore, reading is important to today's teenager.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

It's important. Most teenagers are setting down books and spending more time in the Internet then ever. We do learn from the Internet but books are great things. The reason teenagers are in the Internet so much is because they can play on line, communicate on line, and watch movies on line.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I think that reading is important becoz many teenagers nowadays are detached from the current happenings due to the lessen of reading time.Reading for teenagers helps them alot as they can understand the world they live in,as well as it can improve their language and communication skill ,which make them more proficient in the 21th century,where communication between people is the key to success.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with what rui en had said. Reading will help the teenagers by improving their language, communication skills and undersatnd more about the world they live in and this will improve the relationship better one another and will also help the teenagers greatly as they will need all this skills when they start to work. Improving communication skills can allow teenagers to able to engage a conversation with others well and thus will aloow the teenagers to know the other person more. Improving language can allow teenagers to speak better with others and will allow teenagers not to speak anything that will offend other people.

Side: Its not important
1 point

Todays teenagers do not read as many books as a teenager even 10 or 20 years back used to. Why is it so? Is it because other forms of communication, learning and entertainment have taken over the ever popular "book" or is there some other reason? What do you think?

I think that reading is important to teenagers. Reading is an important skill that all parents need to encourage their children to master. A person who can read, and read well, is more likely to graduate from college; get a higher paying job; experience the joys of learning new things; and enjoy the stress-reducing entertainment of a good book. Reading also broadens a teenager's language which would be useful in school and when communicating with people in other parts of the world.

Teenagers nowadays feels that books are boring because of latest technology such as computer games, television programmes, which are already enough to entertain or to spend their free time. Books are now replaced with movies, where teenagers feel more relaxed watching a movie than reading a book. Also, some teenagers find books hard to read or the words are too small and cramped, therefore, not reading books.

In conclusion, I feel that reading is important to teenagers.

Side: It's important
1 point

I agree with Meixuen about people who could read well are more likely to graduate from college and get a higher paying job, as by reading, we can enlarge our dictionary of phrases or vocabulary that could help us in essays, and it could definitely help you when you are doing comprehensions. You might never know, the passage you got is a story you read before!

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

i think that reading is important as it improves our vocabulary,stimulas our thinking skills and acts as a relaxation.reading improves our vocabulary as most writers uses many superb and excellent words to make the story interesting.by reading books, we will have the memory of these words and use them during our composition writing or exams

secondly,it stimulas our thinking skills in terms of creativity,asking ourselves the "why" question and thoughts of inquisitive.like in deciphering a poem, reading activates our senses and we will constantly hunger for the reason the writer writes in a certain style. could it be because of culture? could it be used to evoke mystery and uncertainty? or could it be used to influence the thinking of the reader. the possibilities of the "why" question are endlessand thus it sets us thinking.it also promotes inquisitiveness as we want to find out more about the story plot. needless to say, we pick up books upon looking at the title or summary. why? it is because we find it special and want to know the story plot,thus giving us a sense of satisfication.personally, i like to read books related to spying assaisination and many more of this genre.it is because these books make me want to read on and find out things like, "will he survive?", "he is a superspy, how is he able to escape the villians" and things like that.that is why reading promotes inquisitiveness.

lastly, reading acts as a relaxation.while reading, we forget about the stress of work and plunge into the story itself, picturing ourselves in it.i would say that reading is a quick way to escape the stresses that we are currently facing.

in conclusion, reading is important as it broadens our horizon, relaxes our mind and set us thinking at the same time.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Reading is important as in boosts our English. As english is the main language used in the world, it is vital for us to read more books to have better vocabulary skills for communicating with others easier.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I think that reading is important to us,teenagers. However, i also have some negative points. Reading books is important as it helps to build up our vocabulary so that we can use them in school essays. Reading newspapers also helps us to be updated about what happened. Reading helps to build up our fluency of english language and also encourages us to speak more english.

BUT, i think that not all English books are suitable for tenagers. These books include romance books which displays love and affection between two characters of opposite sex. I think that these books are gross and cause teenagers to get into love life before the time is right. Thus, i find them unsuitable for us.

In conclusion, i still thinks that reading is important for us as it helps to build up our knowledge and skills and we can read whenever and wherever we want (except during lessons :D)

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I do not agree with Salihin's point of view as i don't get it and finds it lame. Although we can read more about whats happening in online news, i still think that reading newspapers are more efficient as reading them online is quite troublesome and we can't do that in most places. Thus, reading newspapers are more convenient. :D

Side: Its imporatnt

I would have to believe it is important since my 10 year old grandson who is going into the fifth grade has 6 book reports due over the summer alone! I cannot think they're going to make the book reading requirements less than they are now so, yes, reading must be very important to teens.

Side: Its imporatnt

There's no reason for a downvote on this! We were asked a question, I answered it appropriately.

Side: Its imporatnt

It is very important to teenagers. They just don't do it that often. They get most most of theyre reading from blogs or other webpages, not nessisarily from books.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Reading is a basic tool in the living of a good life. Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body. We have only one life to live, if we can read, we can live as many lives as many kinds of lives we wish. I agree with this proverb: “Wear the old coat and buy the new book”. In my opinion, nowadays young people read books, newspapers and magazines less than in the past, because they prefer reading in the Internet more than reading books, they think books can damage to their health and they are not taught to read books since childhood.

I’m going to say several reasons of my opinion. Firstly, the Internet is more popular than Books among young people. This is why the Internet is comfortable and convenient. People can find different information, videos, news, films, dictionaries and many other things online easily. In addition, Internet is less expensive than books.

Secondly, books can damage to their health if they read in dark place. Of course, if people read books and newspapers in the dark they will be able to impair their eyes. However, we have modern technology that can create the light. I think we should not forget these proverbs: “You make your bed, you must live on”, “Where there is a will, there is a way”. If a person wants to read something very much, he will find a way to obtain or do it no matter how difficult it is. Thus, reading books cold be harm their eyes, if they read in the dark.

Last, but not least, many young people are not taught to read books since childhood. I think that it is a big problem. For instance, nowadays a lot of parents don’t teach their children reading. Furthermore, pupils read books at school little, they prefer reading summary in the Internet to read books. According to Mark Twain, the man who doesn’t read good books has no advantage over the man who can’t read. I agree with him. Overall, the Internet is more popular than books, and we should teach our children to read more.

Clearly, most young people don’t like reading books, magazines and newspapers, because the internet is more popular than books, teenagers think books can harm their health and unfortunately, they are not taught to read books since childhood. I remember a proverb: “Live and learn”. I agree with it absolutely, because today you are a reader, tomorrow you will become a leader. In short, Books are important to us, because it speaks to us, it is universal, and it affect us and we should read more in order to develop ourselves and be literate, educated and informed people.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

i think reading is very important as it create awareness regarding the situation.through internet we can just get appropriate answers but through reading books we can get details to that answer..................

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

it depends fro person to person. but most people i now love reading as much as i do. (i love reading by the way ;) )

Side: Its imporatnt

Reading is still important, however, teens prefer to read on their tablets or eReaders.

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Nope! That is incorrect. It is an incorrect statement backed up by no evidence. It's a generalization, and from my personal experience tends to not be true. Ok? Try again.

Side: Its not important
0 points

Reading is still important to today's teenagers...

However, the definition of reading has changed..

As far as books go, cult fiction series are, for the most part, the only contestants

(Twilight, Harry Potter)

However, most teen reading isn't spent flipping a page in a book or even playing around on the Kindle (had to mention that), I do believe it's spent on the Internet. Reading forums, finding the latest electronic updates, and even celebrity gossip is beginning to entice young "readers"...

Personally, I prefer to read up on Hawthorne, and I truly don't understand anyone who can read Twilight, Harry Potter, or anything like it, but to each his own, at least people read, right?

Side: It's important
5 points

It's not that reading is not important, it's just not prioritized for most teenagers.

In all fairness though, how important is reading to today's adults? I read on my breaks at my summer job, and my coworkers are all intrigued by this. Most of my friends read one, maybe two books a year and most of the books that they read are fluff writing. Teenagers at least, if they read even half of their assignments for school, are doing far better than that.

For whatever reason, people just don't seem to like reading. Their loss.

Side: Its not important
4 points

How important is reading to today's teenagers?

I misread the question.

I thought you were asking if today's teenagers VALUED reading. (Hence the reason I asked how much adults valued it)

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Adapted answer to my new interpretation:

I think it's certainly important for teenagers to read. But I think it's important for everybody to read. Not just be literate, but actually use their brains for stimulation outside of the tv. I think there's this stigma attached to intelligence, where it is no longer valued the same way as it has been in history. And many people I meet every day are either ill-educated or ignorant.

So yes, it's important for teenagers to read. It's also important for children and adults to read.

Side: It's important
0 points

I seriously don't think that reading is important for today's generation if it's only about knowing the outside world, as there is enough of technology available to tell them what is happening around them, and as long as it is about developing their vocabulary it can be done from any Grammar book available in the market because anyways no one uses it.

Side: Its not important
2 points

Reading is important nowadays. In this modern era, we have advance technology which made many things that seemed impossible to be done happened. The advancement of the Internet and computers made the teenagers to have a much enjoyable life. Teens can get so many more things than they can get from a book from the Internet. Information and knowledge is been uploaded on the Internet and the teenagers can just read them by clicking. Learning will be much livelier when we can watch videos and play games to learn something. There are websites which will give plenty of information like “Wikipedia”. When we are reading a book, we are learning things in a much more boring way. Books provide information which was written by the writer and we will not learn more from the book. Teenagers are more familiar with the internet than the book as they are more exposed to the internet. Other electronic devices like mobile phone and PSP are being able to provide Internet services. The forums online might also be another reason. Teenagers can speak and share with the other people from all parts of the world. Sharing with others will be fun and we can learn more than a book can provide.

Side: It's important
Deep(22) Disputed
1 point

I agree with you when you say that teenagers know more about the internet than a lot of adults do but the question i would like to raise is "how credible is the information that you get on the internet?" sites like wikipedia can be edited and information can be tampered with from any computer in any part of the world. Books on the other had are written after nerve wracking research and several proof readings. Therefore be careful with the internet literature!

Side: Its imporatnt
19940621(2) Disputed
1 point

i once tried to edit the information on wikipedia and i got blocked after giving false information. it took me a few month to be able to log onto the website. we can log on to the trustworthy website like wikipedia, CNN, and BBC etc.

Side: Its not important
1 point

I think that this site is primarily filled with intelligent, liberal people- the kind of people that find reading to be VERY important, and felt so as teenagers. I attend an inner-city high school, where reading is much less important to many people than their next meal, their jobs, their families, where they can sleep, their gangs, a fight they’re going to be in, or even what clothes they want to wear. Many of my peers couldn’t sting together a grammatically correct sentence, and many can barely read- why would they enjoy something they struggle with when they have so many other things to worry about? When you can copy/paste homework, and be pushed up a grade even without the skills needed, many teens simply lack the ability to read for pleasure.

Side: Its not important
1 point

I believe that for teenagers nowadays, reading serves one main purpose – entertainment. We are in the modern era and we can’t deny that there are a million and one things more interesting to do than reading. With the introduction of console games, mp3s and ipods, the popularity of books took a huge drop. I personally feel that reading is bland and dull. After all we have been reading all day at school so it seems like a chore to even flip another page. I would rather spend the free time to do something I enjoy, such as playing computer games.

A book is only important as far as the information it carries is concerned. Can we not find these information on the internet? The importance of reading book stands, but the fact is that I have been reading them all my life and I’m getting rather sick of it.

Side: Happiness is priceless
Deep(22) Disputed
1 point

I strongly disagree with you when you say that "A book is only important as far as the information it carries is concerned." Books are not just about information they are a trigger for thinking; let men give you an example.

Have you ever talked to people who have just seen a movie made from a book and they have read the book before seeing the movie? In 9 cases out of ten, they will tell you, "The book was better." Have you ever wondered why they think so?

I have been an avid reader all my life and I can tell you why this happens. It is because of the fact that a book allows you to think for yourself, it allows you to use your imagination to draw your own mental images and sounds and interpret the text "as you want to". when you see a movie this freedom is taken from you, all you do then is take in the sights and sounds.

That is why i think that reading is important, it gives the brain room for CRITICAL and CREATIVE thinking.

Side: Its imporatnt
Varsh24(16) Disputed
1 point

The fact that we get a lot of news from the Internet stays as it is ... But what will you do if there was no Internet ?

? And the reading you do at school is different from the one you do at home .... How many teenagers read newspapers nowadays ?? Reading is fun when it is in paper not when it is in digital .... And how long can one read from the computer screen ?? At the end you will end up with an eye disorder ... !!!!!!

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

reading is for rich people...................................................................................................................................

Side: Its not important
1 point

What does money have to do with reading? ``````````````````````````````````

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

I agree with you when you say Money is not related to reading and would further justify and support your point that from a certain perspective, if you read more and apply what you read effectively...you may end up making more money!

Side: Its imporatnt
1 point

Even when I don't agree with reading books I totally agree with kukla :D

Side: Its not important
1 point

who these days would want to waste time these days reading books when they have others things to spend time on like chat on FB follow on twitter and watch cool animes etc. also after studying it is pretty hectic to read and concentrate and understand when you do the same thing in studies. I don't think many people can prioritize it so watch movies and be happy :)

Side: Its not important
1 point

I agree ^

Side: Its not important
1 point

THANK YOU I seriously think that way about reading books. they are a waste of time.

Side: Its not important