Cellphones Cripple Teen Fiction

Teens don’t read. Well! Maybe that’s too harsh. Let’s say they read less. It’s always interesting to see them in groups: campus lawns, high school cafeterias, coffee shops, malls, even parties. There they are, glued to their phones. Hopefully, they don't do it on babysitting jobs.

Big bookshops have all kinds of sections. They have a whole wall for teens, same size as cookery books. Publishers used to publish fiction and non-fiction. Then they had the brilliant idea called a niche.

Public libraries have always had a kids’ section, seldom teens. Publishers probably did some research which told them teens have money to spare, a trickle down effect from two parents with well-paying jobs.

Teenagers in Europe and North America also have time on their hands because they don’t have any house chores like teens in most parts of the world. They also have their own rooms, a space ideal for reading, so publishers thought. That is how the teen section was born.

But publish must re-think. Reading improves writing. That is not likely to change. My uncle and grandfather gave us the comic section and the rest of the paper as we grew up.

Publishers have tried to accommodate a girl’s best friend, which is the phone. How? Teen fiction stories are mostly cellphone stories, with text messages and their own ‘language’ taking centre stage.

Despite such efforts, publishers must scrap it. They cannot compete with social media, particularly YouTube channels, which are practically me-me-me broadcasting stations.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.