“We have a school newspaper?” Those five words that sound like nails on a chalkboard to any newspaper staffer. Hours of writing, grammatical errors checked and revised, strenuous thinking of a catchy, creative headline; all for students to gaze at and quickly throw away. However, it is not only student journalists facing an issue regarding young readers. As times are changing, technology is advancing and the ability for a teenager to sit and read any type of  informative article is slimming. Most have moved to short, quick articles or video broadcasts, saving time and effort; no need to really read, why test your critical reading when it’s all audibly spelled out in simpler words?

Preposterous. A writer spends hours thinking of the perfect word to fit the situation, the setting in their head being drawn out in flowery words and creative analogies. Searching the area for hard hitting stories and interesting topics to cover, most of which are disregarded if the article exceeds 250 words. With a 500 word article being too much for most to handle, it comes as no shock that students cannot manage to read a novel of their choosing for a mere 20 minutes. When in fact, reading a book can help one increase their vocabulary, reading speed, and even expand their cultural knowledge. Even still, the ability for a teenager to sit still and not be continuously stimulated by technology has become almost impossible. The modern student refusing to take the time to read anything more than their Twitter Feed.

Additionally, if teens see a topic referring to politics or foreign affairs, the page is immediately flipped, choosing to be uninformed and ignorant instead of being properly educated in an article written in an unbiased format. Although most would deny skipping the political articles due to their negligence, instead they argue that “it doesn’t affect me right now, I can’t vote,” therefore, they shouldn’t be informed of what is happening around them. It is actually quite ignorant to ignore the problems surrounding our country now, because as we age and become eligible to vote, background information is necessary and there is a chance that issues today will still be our issues tomorrow. So would it be so terrible to read about what this whole “ObamaCare” project is?

Even if it’s not an article about politics, the level vocabulary that writers are capable of using is limited due to their audience. Modern day readers seem to be split into two categories: those who have elevated their vocabulary due to their frequent reading and those who hold a vocabulary of a middle schooler. In fact, the majority of those who are at the lower end of the spectrum have probably not made it to this portion of the article. Although listening to a broadcast can allow for one to learn new vocabulary, it has become a policy that no article or broadcast can have words that are too difficult. Benevolent, exuberant, or sagacious would all be words considered too advanced for the modern day American, words that would be considered SAT words, when in fact, they can be used in everyday conversation. What has become even more upsetting is looking back through history, words that were inducted into the dictionary were one’s of profoundness and eloquence, now the words “twerk” and “selfie” have earned a spot in the dictionary under T and S. People need to stop twerking and start working.

Although technology is rapidly increasing, this does not mean we should reject any form of print communication. Newspapers have been the key source of information for Americans since the early 18th century, and will forever be an outlet for information, whether it be online or print. Nonetheless, it is important that written words not be excommunicated from our society, although it may be easier to watch a pretty newscaster talk about Kim and Kanye’s raunchy music video, would it be so difficult to pick up a newspaper or even pull one up on your Smartphone and practice a fleeting skill?