Last summer a survey website, Teenreads.com, conducted a poll of some 4,000 people 18 years old or younger about their reading habits and preferences, and many of the results will come as a surprise. For parents who fret that their children text or yak too much or immerse themselves day and night in YouTube or Facebook, the surprise will be a pleasant one. As for those of you who believe that youth are in the vanguard of the e-book revolution – well, you’re in for a shock.

You can read a summary of the survey here, or read it in depth in What Do Teens Want?. For now, let’s just focus on e-books:

While we hear that teens have embraced all things digital and thus have a large interest in reading e-books, our findings didn’t support this claim.

When we asked about their affection for a digital reading device for fun reading (not schoolwork) if the price were affordable, 46% said they preferred printed books. Another 38% said they would like one, and 16% indicated they were not sure how they felt about this.

When asked if they’d like to read textbooks as e-books, they were evenly split, with 36% saying yes, 33% saying they were not sure, and 31% saying they would not be interested.

Nearly one-quarter (24%) have read an e-book, while 27% would like to read one. Almost half (49%) said they have no interest in reading e-books.

When asked how they have read an e-book, 26% have done so on a computer while 33% used a dedicated digital reading device and 5% used another method. Seven out of 10 (71%) say they have never read one.

To keep things in perspective, the surveyors state, “We recognized that we were surveying an exceptional group, what we call über readers. So the results reflect teens who are already drawn to books; we are not studying what keeps nonreaders from picking up a book.”

Richard Curtis

Every Blogger owes a debt of gratitude to newspapers and magazines. This posting relies on original research and reporting performed by Publishers Weekly.