Ms Lötscher, as far as I can remember, I seem to have often been in the library on my own as a child, whilst my friends were doing cartwheels outside. Did more children really read in the past?
There are a great many preconceptions, as well as hopes and projections, floating about when it comes to the reading habits of children and young people. I have been studying this topic from a cultural studies perspective for 25 years. If we look at it with a little distance, it becomes clear that there have always been children who enjoy reading – and those who simply do not.
There have been calls to regulate new media in the past. Back then, it was known as «reading dietetics».
So do we parents look back on the good old days before smartphones and social media with too much nostalgia?
Quite clearly. Reading was still regarded as something dangerous in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was something that needed to be regulated. What we do today with social media – imposing bans, calling for moderation, curating content, teaching media literacy – already existed back then and was known as «reading dietetics».
That, just as with diet, we should look at what and how much a child is «consuming» in the way of reading material?
Exactly. In the 18th century, the genre for children was the «Robinsonade» – stories modelled on Daniel Defoe's *Robinson Crusoe *. There were all sorts of versions of it, including a Swiss one. Reading was intended to impart practical knowledge to children. They were meant to learn from books how to survive in the wilderness, build a raft or hunt.
That sounds pragmatic.
We sometimes forget just how deeply rooted we still are today in this Enlightenment-era view of education: children should derive as much practical benefit as possible from books. At the same time, there is the Romantic-influenced approach to reading education, which focuses more on empathising with other people and immersing oneself in imaginary worlds.
Even in today's children's and young adult literature, you can find both educational stories about climate change and wild adventures featuring teenage demigods.
To this day, we continue to navigate between these two extremes. As parents, we particularly welcome our children's immersion in other worlds when reading helps them to become more empathetic or to learn something about themselves. These psychological aspects stem from the Romantic ideal of reading and continue to play an important role.
According to the latest JIM study by the Media Education Research Network South-West, books remain an integral part of the media landscape for children and young people. However, the survey also shows that young people now spend significantly less time reading a book or comic than they did a few years ago. Is this due to this generation's shortening attention span? Or, to put it another way: is the smartphone to blame?
Of course, smartphones are a distraction – but not just for young people, for adults too. Instead of banning children from using their mobiles, we should start with ourselves and put our devices away more often. It's only when you pick up a book again that you realise how jittery all that constant tapping and scrolling on your mobile makes you feel – even when you're just reading the newspaper on it.
New media, however, always call into question the position of existing media anyway.
It is normal for every new medium to bring with it a process of differentiation – in other words, a redefinition of which medium serves which need. Children still seek what reading offers: the chance to immerse themselves in other worlds. It's just that they no longer find it solely in books, but also in TV series or video games. What is changing significantly, however, is that reading is no longer the primary medium for learning.
Are YouTube videos and podcasts just as effective as books and specialist texts when it comes to imparting knowledge?
Some people are good at taking in information aurally, whilst others learn better through visual means. The ideal situation is when different learning methods are combined. Reading remains important, but it is increasingly becoming primarily a means of self-reflection. When reading, you can be somewhere else entirely and yet, at the same time, be completely at one with yourself. I believe, however, that this is precisely what makes literary texts so unique. Only a book can offer this experience.
What about the AI that summarises whole books and creates presentations?
I'm very sceptical about that. Reading and summarising texts yourself is hard work, but it's essential. And besides, AI chatbots simply spout a lot of nonsense.
When they're reading, children forget just how much effort they're actually putting in.
Being able to read well is crucial, even beyond German lessons. However, pupils’ reading skills have been declining for years. What makes reading so important?
The brain works incredibly hard when we read challenging texts. Young people today find it harder to make sense of these texts for themselves and to process complex issues. Reading well means not only thinking about the content, but also reflecting on and discussing the process of making sense of it. You need to be able to articulate what you have understood and what you haven't. In this context, «immersive reading» is particularly important for children.
Which one?
When we adults lose ourselves in a book, we do so primarily because it does us good. Reading grounds us and relaxes us; it inspires us and gives us new ideas. For children, however, there is another factor at play: for them, becoming completely absorbed in a story is simply the easiest way to learn to read well. In the process, they completely forget just how much effort they are actually putting in.
Reading habits differ markedly depending on gender. The JIM Study on media usage among 12- to 19-year-olds concludes that boys not only pick up a book or comic less often, but also spend less time reading them than girls. This gap appears to widen as they get older.
I'm not a media psychologist, so I can only comment on this to a limited extent. However, when I talk to my students about their reading history, one thing strikes me time and again: many of them only really started reading at a late stage. Even fellow lecturers tell me that their passion for reading only took hold when they were young adults. That's why I don't think we need to worry about this. The media world of boys covers a wide spectrum. It ranges from anime to comics and TV series, right through to video games. If a boy simply really enjoys reading manga or is really good at gaming, that's also a demanding pursuit.
Many children's books these days have a somewhat contrived educational slant and are endlessly well-behaved.
At the same time, however, the range of books available for girls and young women is much wider than the selection for boys.
Young women, but also queer young people, do indeed have an enormous choice. This goes so far that Young Adult and New Adult are now the most widely read genres of all – in other words, all those love stories that fall under categories such as romance, romantasy or dark academia. For young cis-heterosexual men, the range of options beyond manga and comics is far less impressive. Yet, particularly in the case of children's and young adult books, there has been a strong effort for some time to appeal to all genders. For several years now, however, the situation has been drifting apart again, particularly in stories for teenagers and young adults. In children's books, it is mainly series that are gender-specific. Yet there is also classic children's literature, which is aimed at everyone. When it comes to books for the very youngest, however, I've noticed yet another trend.
Yes?
Following the first PISA study in 2000, children's books experienced a veritable golden age in Europe and throughout the English-speaking world. A great many literary works were produced, and the authors received a great deal of attention. Yet these days, children's books seem to be primarily concerned with not putting a foot wrong and not upsetting anyone. Many stories have a somewhat contrived educational tone and are endlessly well-behaved.
Doesn't that make the books more boring for children too?
Yes, of course – and above all, it shows that children's books are by no means read or written in isolation from current debates. Social developments can be discerned in texts for children. At the moment, one has to look hard to find the wild and anarchic elements that long dominated children's literature, not least thanks to Astrid Lindgren. However, there are still some wonderful books out there, such as those by the Zurich-based author Eva Rottmann.
What influence do fathers actually have on boys’ reading habits?
Having a father who tells stories and enjoys reading himself is a wonderful thing. Fathers play a crucial role in this for both sons and daughters. But as I said: reading is also a socio-cultural phenomenon. As parents, one of the main reasons we place such great importance on our children reading is that literature is also considered to be of great social significance. Of course, to a certain extent it depends on a child's environment or gender whether they prefer to read or play football in their free time. But a lot of it is simply a question of individual disposition: some people genuinely need to lose themselves in a book time and time again. For others, the best thing is doing something with friends.
Parents who read a lot, in particular, sometimes feel almost at their wits’ end when their child shows hardly any interest in literature. Are they doing something wrong?
Anyone who reads aloud to their children and provides them with plenty of exciting reading material shouldn't worry too much: not every child has to enjoy reading. They'll still have plenty of opportunities in life. I'm more concerned about those young people who would actually like to read but aren't given enough opportunities to do so. Or who are led to believe that reading is a waste of time or something only girls do. After all, access to books is very much linked to how reading is viewed within the family. Anyone who has tried everything to get their child excited about literature may have to accept that books simply do not give them the same pleasure as they do to you. We adults should try to relax a bit about this.
Knowing and taking your own wishes seriously can help you to accept the person you're dealing with in the real world for who they are.
In research today, there is talk of two «reading dips». Whilst the second coincides with adolescence, the first occurs as early as primary school. This is when parents stop reading aloud to their children because the child can now, in theory, read for themselves. However, the child often loses interest in books because reading on their own is still a struggle. How can we support children in overcoming these dips?
Certainly not by forcing them to read. Instead, we could, for example, organise reading evenings: everyone gets together on the sofa with a book. I also think it's brilliant when families carry on reading aloud to one another – even parents reading to each other. When my grandmother's eyesight started to fail, I read half the reading list for my German studies to her. And don't all those sold-out readings show that reading aloud is by no means just for little ones? The most important thing, though, is to foster a culture of reading within the family. And, of course, to read yourself.
Surely, when it comes to smartphones in particular, we need rules to make moments like that possible in the first place? For example: no more screens in the evening, but …
… You're still allowed to read in bed, that's right. That's what my mum taught me, and I've passed it on to my daughters too. These days , I simply can't fall asleep without a book – whatever sleep scientists might say about it.
Your research is currently focused on the topic of BookTok – discussions about young adult and new adult books on TikTok. Don't these genres celebrate old-fashioned gender roles and relationship patterns?
Not at all! These novels explore, in a very explicit and compelling way, the fact that love stories are by no means a blueprint for real-life relationships. The main characters are often writers themselves and come to realise, over time, that life isn't at all like it is in their books. The novels skilfully explore many questions and areas of tension, such as how feminism and romantic desire can coexist. The stories also offer readers a wide range of ways to engage with them: they can be read as sentimental tales, but they can also be approached critically and analytically. The genre consistently revolves around the idea that romantic love has always been a literary construct.
So it's mainly about a love of books?
The fascination with Young Adult and New Adult is about literature, not men. They just happen to feature in the stories. Incidentally, I don't believe that female readers expect a real-life partner to be like the Prince Charming in the book – who, by the way, is now called a «book boyfriend». We read these stories to give free rein to our fantasies, but also to come to terms with them. I believe that knowing and taking your own desires seriously can even help you to accept the person opposite you in the real world for who they are.
Young Adult and New Adult are young women's response to the male-dominated literary world.
When discussing BookTok and Young Adult literature, they even talk of empowerment: whilst women have always been welcome in the book industry as consumers, they have, until now, generally not been welcome as reviewers or authors.
With Young Adult and New Adult, there is clearly an economic as well as a cultural appropriation of the male-dominated literary world. Here, young women are saying to themselves: «Let's take a closer look at what we've been fed so far – only to be mocked for it on top of that.» We're now telling all these love stories from a female perspective and rewriting the genre.
Should you actually interfere with your children's choice of reading material? What if minorities are portrayed in a stereotypical way, or if the language in the texts leaves something to be desired? My youngest son, for example, wants to hear the same «Papa Moll» story over and over again. Those rhymes… they're awful!
Children and young people should be allowed to decide for themselves what they read. After all, they find something they're looking for in the books they read. At the same time, as a parent, you can say quite openly that you don't think it's right if it's always just the mother pottering about in the kitchen. When my daughters were little, I sometimes rewrote or left out certain parts. I also pointed out that a book came from a different era and therefore needed my corrections and adaptations to reflect the present day – for example, when Astrid Lindgren or Otfried Preussler used the N-word. Incidentally, my mother also thought *Papa Moll* was dreadful. She didn't want me to read those stories under any circumstances. Naturally, that just made me all the more curious. But she was right.
It was much the same for me. As a child, I used to get absolutely thrilled every time a new issue came out at the chemist's – though I do hope my son will move on to something else again soon.
Even if we're not always thrilled by what our child is reading: as long as it isn't the only thing they read, I don't see a problem with it. On the contrary, it is precisely from fictional stories that we learn: just because something works well as a story doesn't necessarily mean it's true. In a world where we're constantly surrounded by fake news, this is an incredibly important realisation. After all, machines like ChatGPT do exactly that: they put words and sentences into a context that seems so plausible that you think, «This must be true – it all fits together so nicely.» But anything that sounds plausible is, first and foremost, simply well told.
