Why Australian children are reading less post-lockdown

Children who lived through the longest lockdowns during Covid are shunning physical books in favour of screen time — and their reading is suffering.

The Covid pandemic is taking a toll on children’s reading, with screen time taking precedence over books in states with long lockdowns, new research shows.

A University of Melbourne survey of 513 Australian parents has found children’s use of screens, especially tablets, flourished during the pandemic.

“Many parents believed their children’s use of screens had come at the expense of book reading,” co-lead researcher Dr Sybil Nolan said.

During the pandemic, children’s reading for pleasure was up 13 minutes a day but 43 per cent of those who reported lockdown changes said their kids engaged in “more screen time and less book reading”.

Sisters Ava, 8, and Mae, 6, share books and screen time. Picture: David Caird

Two-thirds of parents in the study were from the states with the longest lockdowns, Victoria and NSW, where concerns about the decline of physical books was greatest.

“By the end of lockdown, kids were as likely to have a tablet as a book,” Dr Nolan said. “The question is: what were they doing on the tablets outside school hours?”

Parents reported that 66 per cent of children aged seven to 13 owned their own books, 59 per cent owned tablets, 48 per cent had a smart phone and 44 per cent had a video game console.

Results showed 38 per cent of children from long lockdown states had a tablet in their bedroom, compared with 33 per cent from non-lockdown states.

Dr Nolan said there were other concerns about the popularity of traditional book reading.

The survey also found a quarter of parents did not buy a book for their child during lockdown and 44 per cent said they had bought between one and five books.

Teacher registrations are now open for the Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee.

Library use also dropped, with the proportion of parents who said they never borrowed physical books rising from 18 to 47 per cent, although parents continued reading to children.

It comes as 46 per cent of parents say they have to prompt their children to read and 53 per cent of children did not have a favourite book or author, even before the pandemic.

St Kilda mother-of-two Caroline Thornton said her daughters Ava, 8, and Mae, 6, loved books and both learned to read during the pandemic.

But she said there was “huge use of screen time during the pandemic” in her house.

“If one of them had finished a task while I was with the other one, they would sneak off and use a screen,” she said. “We had to accept that, knowing we would correct that after the pandemic. It’s back at a more acceptable level.”

The Prime Minister’s Spelling Bee is a free online competition for students in years 3-8. Teacher registrations are open to August 19, with the school round of the competition running from August 15 to 26.