Aliteracy

[3] Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, has stated that this trend away from the written word is more than worrisome, and that it's tearing apart culture.

"[4] American historian Daniel Boorstin, in 1984, while serving as librarian of Congress, issued a landmark report: "Books in Our Future".

Citing recent statistics that only about half of all Americans read regularly every year, he referred to the "twin menaces" of illiteracy and aliteracy.

It refers to a study by John P. Robinson, a sociology professor at the University of Maryland, College Park, showing that the average American at that time spent only 24 minutes per day in reading.

Samuel Robert Lichter, director of the Center for Media and Public Affairs, is quoted on his preference for the ease of turning on the TV instead of reading a book.