Increased Use of E-mail, Instant Messaging & Cell Phones Has Adults Concerned Over Vocabulary Skills of Young People, Reveals New Poll

Increased Use of E-mail, Instant Messaging & Cell Phones Has Adults Concerned Over Vocabulary Skills of Young People, Reveals New Poll

Strong Vocabulary is Critical to Career & Relationship Success

PLEASANTVILLE, N.Y., March 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- With the use of email, instant messaging and cell phones on the rise, almost half of the adults surveyed nationally feel that vocabulary skills of young people are declining as a result. What effect will this have on the future success of our nation's youth?

The Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge(SM) commissioned a national telephone survey(1) of 1,000 adults, 18 and older, to gauge how these new modes of communication may be affecting the vocabulary skills of today's kids. The results of this study, released today, show 45% of the respondents feel that kids' vocabulary is declining; 26% believe these skills are improving; 21% think vocabulary skills remain the same, and 8% had no opinion.

The survey also found that career, overwhelmingly, is the area of life that has the greatest impact for a strong vocabulary (75% cite it). When asked which area had the second greatest impact, 65% say relationships. The higher the education level of the adult, the greater the feeling that career will be most positively impacted by having a strong vocabulary.

Concerned with the potential negative impact of diminishing communication skills, the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge was designed to emphasize the importance of strong vocabulary to students around the country. This annual educational outreach program attracts 1.6 million fourth through eighth graders to compete for a chance at $50,000 in college scholarships and the opportunity to participate in the televised national championship from Walt Disney World. The winners from each state will participate in this year's championship round on April 18-19 in Orlando.

For more information on the program, go to http://www.rd.com/nwpc .

(1) With Opinion Research Corporation's CARAVAN, completed between
February 24 and 27, 2005. The margin of error is plus or minus 2%.

Source: Reader's Digest

CONTACT: Howard Greene, Home: +1-516-374-4230, or Amy Trotta, both of
Greene Inc., for Reader's Digest, +1-516-825-0400, or greenepr@aol.com

Web site: http://www.rd.com/nwpc

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