What is your daily reading goal? Like drinking eight glasses of water a day or walking 10,000 steps a day, setting a daily reading goal can be a healthy habit. The question is how many pages you should read each day.
The Paper and Packaging Board’s Back to School Report 2017 launched the 15 Pages A Day campaign to promote reading on paper and to illustrate the benefits of reading 15 pages each day. Setting a reading goal can help you get into the habit of reading every day, which can lead to improved memory and cognitive development.
Naomi Baron, professor of linguistics at American University in Washington, D.C., wrote “Why Print Still Matters for Learning: Education Should Develop Our Concentration and Contemplation.” In that essay, Baron noted that distraction is the biggest challenge people face when reading on screens.
This is especially true when a reader is connected to the internet and the temptation looms to do something else—say, check social media feeds or post a new photo. In fact, 92 percent of the people Baron surveyed said that reading a hard copy of something helped them concentrate on the material.
“Students tell us they remember more when reading in print,” Baron said. “Not surprisingly, some report spending more time when reading print and reading more carefully than with digital texts.”
This lines up with current research that shows that taking notes by hand on paper aides memory and that people who regularly read and write have a much slower mental decline than people who don’t.
Many sources cite the benefits of reading each day, including increased vocabulary, greater mental development and improved memory.
- The American Library Association found that students who read independently are better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas and have greater knowledge than those who do not.
- Reading with your child each day is an important factor in helping your child become a reader.
- Reading aloud for 15 minutes a day aids language development, instills a love of reading and increases understanding of how knowledge is gained and shared.
The data is clear: Reading, whether independently or with a parent, is critical for language and cognitive development. Yet few parents read aloud to their children for 15 minutes a day, and few people make a point to read every day.
That’s why the Paper and Packaging Board encourages everyone to set a reading goal of 15 Pages A Day. Take the pledge today.
