It’s a question writers and educators have been mulling over for years: does gamifying reading help or hurt the broad end goal of having people read for pleasure and knowledge, en masse?
Alexandra Chiasson, associate chair of the Interdisciplinary Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality and teaching assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has taught introductory English and reading-intensive gender studies classes and has noticed specific ways her students talk about reading and watching movies.
“I remember one student saying something like ‘[Gen Z watches movies now] because they gave us a social media for it,’ talking about Letterboxd,” Chiasson says. “Honestly most of them just talk about how they wish they had the attention span to watch and read more. I’m not sure if it’s because they yearn to make 100 books in a year content, or if they want to impress me, or if they actually want to read…