The literacy skills gap between girls and boys is increasing as rising screen time and online gaming is worsening teenage boys’ reading skills, noted education leaders.
One Growing Up Digital study found that the number of children who are eager to learn has fallen in the last five years, with more and more children staying up late to access social media or play online games.
But the impact is worse on boys as it tremendously impacts their reading and writing abilities.
“What’s happened in the last 10 years is that boys have gone more into gaming,’’ said Professor Pasi Sahlberg, co-author of Growing Up Digital Australia.
“The girls are more into social media, so they communicate and write and read a little bit more.’’
The Australian Institute of Family Studies has found that boys are more likely than girls to play video games.
One in five teenage boys failed the writing test – double the rate for girls.
This year, nearly one in seven boys in year 9 failed to meet the minimum standard for reading – double the failure rate for girls, and much higher than the failure rate of one in 18 boys in 2008.
This shows the growing gap in literacy rates between boys and girls.
Professor Sahlberg said that children not only learned to write on smartphones, but they also invented their own grammar and spelling rules.
Furthermore, they rarely enjoy reading for fun.
Last year, research from the Gonski Institute for Education found that digital media and technologies were a great distraction in Australian homes as parents found it tough to control their children’s digital habits.
65% of parents even admitted to having conflicts when they tried to remedy the situation.
“We need smart solutions to address these complex challenges towards sustainable digital wellness for our youth,” Professor Sahlberg noted.
Last week, a teenage boy from Victoria died from gaming addiction. In efforts to control his access to games, his parents tried to intervene, but it led to extreme temper tantrums and violent behaviour on the part of the boy.
Unfortunate events like this show that adequate measures have not been taken.
In a bid to control this damage, Queensland became the only state to ban the use of smartphones in schools.
NSW has banned phones in public primary schools.
After Tasmania, Victoria, and WA, SA and NT will also impose a ban on smartphones in all schools next year.
SA Education Minister Blair Boyer said the ban would reduce bullying and “improve the overall learning environment’’.
“The new policy will see a major shift in our schools and bring students’ focus back to their learning by eliminating a significant and common distraction in our classrooms,’’ he said.
