Students have put down beloved paperbacks and replaced them with smartphones, iPads and other technology. Kids' reading for pleasure has dropped tremendously over the past 40 years, and technology may be to blame.

Children have admitted only reading for pleasure once or twice a year, whereas some haven't ever opened a book unless for a school assignment. In a government study, the rate of nine-year-olds who read for fun once or twice per week fell from 81 percent in 1984 to 76 percent in 2013, reported Education News. 

"The same study discovered that today's children are having a harder time learning how to read," the article said. "For kids in the fourth grade, only about one-third of them are 'proficient' in reading, and another one-third tested under 'basic' reading skills."

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Article by Kassondra Granata, EducationWorld Contributor