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Eat Read Love

 Teens aren’t reading for fun anymore. But they are eating for fun quite a whole lot. Hey! Maybe something can be done about that.

Let me back up a bit. Let’s first look a little harder at the whole teens-aren’t-reading-as-much-as-they-used-to thing. According to a study of a bunch of other studies, presented by Common Sense Media, 27% of 17-year-olds and 22% of 13-year-olds say they “never” or “hardly ever” read for fun, almost triple the rate of those who felt that way in 1984 (when the numbers were 9% for the older teens and 8% for the younger). When you take a look at how many 17-year-olds say they read for pleasure “almost every day,” the percentages fall from 31% 30 years ago to 20% now.

Meanwhile, according to Time, parents don’t seem to be prioritizing reading as much as they once did either. Last year, parents read to their 2- to 7-year-old kids about 30 minutes a day. That’s 15 minutes less than moms and dads reported reading to their children in 1999.

But a study by the investment management firm Piper Jaffray reveals that teens are now spending more money on food than they are on clothing, a first in the survey’s 13-year history. So maybe that can make up for the reading deficit a little bit.

You don’t think so? Well, the fine folks at Chipotle hope to change everything … with a drink cup.

According to the survey, teens say they love to hang out at Starbucks, of course, but also McDonald’s, Olive Garden, Taco Bell … and Chipotle.

Vanity Fair reports that the Mexican fast-food franchise has announced plans to print original writing on its cups (and bags) from such authors as Nobel-winner Toni Morrison (Beloved), Jonathan Safran-Foer (Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close), George Saunders (The Braindead Megaphone) and others. Safran-Foer thought up the idea while eating a burrito. “What interested me is 800,000 Americans of extremely diverse backgrounds having access to good writing,” he told Vanity Fair. “A lot of those people don’t have access to libraries, or bookstores. Something felt very democratic and good about this.”

And it means teens will surely be spending pleasurable time reading again … if only for a few seconds in between sinking their teeth into a taco and pointing their eyes at Snapchat.