Scripps Howard News Service

See Spot. See Spot Run. See Spot log on and zone out. Drool, Spot, drool.

A new report released by the National Endowment for the Arts shows that Americans are reading less than ever, a trend that is affecting test scores and classroom performance across the country.

According to the report, if you're in high school or younger you stopped reading at some point in the last paragraph. And you're probably watching SpongeBob. On the Internet. With a bag of Cheetos.

The Cheetos are merely conjecture, but the popularity of the Internet among teens is undeniable. While children in elementary and middle school have maintained or improved their reading skills compared to past years, high school students are steadily losing their abilities in reading comprehension while improving their scores in online Sudoku.

Though younger kids may read outside of the curriculum — notably through a Harry Potter novel or seven — older teens are unlikely to read more than a few Facebook updates or a handful of unintelligible YouTube comments. Until the SAT writing section can be completed via text-message, scores will continue to decline.

But the trouble isn't with teens alone. Even with the publishing industry's Gideon-like effort to put two Da Vinci Codes in every household, the average adult is reading for pleasure far less than a generation before. With so many other forms of entertainment available, literature is losing its luster. And though there's no comprehension test for adults, it's showing in the workplace.

In most offices, any e-mail greater than three lines in length is ignored out of hand. Worse, it seems that few employees could draft an e-mail greater than three lines if required to do so. Brevity may be the soul of the BlackBerry, but there's no excuse for subjecting a client to "thx", "idk" or "my bff Jill".

Some doubters argue that the Internet is not necessarily a detriment to reading. Many people read online magazines or follow their local newspapers through the Web. Lunch hours in offices everywhere are spent perusing online news outlets. We aren't necessarily reading less, we're reading differently.

Most would agree that a proper education is necessary to enjoy a work of literature. But two other key ingredients to prose appreciation are often overlooked: time and quiet. The majority of us have the education necessary to pick up a novel; few of us have an uninterrupted hour to spare every day to see it through.

As a result, we pick at a buffet of electronic news and entertainment when and where we can. Reading must happen in two minute increments or it doesn't happen at all. And these habits, in turn, show up in office correspondence. Brief. To the point. Not necessarily spell checked.

Is it any wonder, then, that "reading comprehension" suffers? It's not that the average high school senior doesn't comprehend what he's reading. It's more likely that he's moving on after the first two sentences. That SAT question should have just gotten to the point.

It's no secret that Americans are forsaking their bookshelves for monitors. The way we read has changed. And though online content isn't exactly high literature, nobody wants Proust in his or her inbox.

— Ben Grabow writes for the young, the urban, and the easily amused. Contact him at thinlyread@gmail.com.