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Good Housekeeping May 1990, p. 17
aliterate adjective and noun (People and Society)
adjective: Disinclined to acquire information from written
sources; able to read, but preferring not to.
noun: A person who can read but chooses to derive information,
entertainment, etc. from non-literary sources.
Etymology: A hybrid word, formed by adding the Greek prefix ain
the sense 'without' to literate, a word of Latin origin. The
hybrid form was intended to make a distinction between the
aliterate and the illiterate (formed with the equivalent Latin
prefix in-), who are unable to read and write.
History and Usage: The word aliterate was coined in the late
sixties, but it was not until the eighties that there began to
be real evidence that the increasing popularity of television
and other 'screen-based' media (including information on
computer screens) was having a noticeable effect on people's use
of reading and writing skills. This observation came soon after
it had been revealed that there were considerable numbers of
people leaving school unable to read and write. In the early
eighties, the noun aliteracy developed as a counterbalance to
illiteracy; the two terms described these twin problems. As the
eighties progressed, graphics and video became even more heavily
used to put across information, to teach, and to entertain;
aliteracy is therefore likely to become increasingly prevalent
in the nineties.
The nation's decision-making process...is threatened by
those who can read but won't, Townsend Hooper, president
of the Association of American Publishers, told some 50
persons attending an 'a-literacy' conference.
Publishers Weekly 1 Oct. 1982, p. 34
According to a recent estimate, 60 million
Americans--almost one-third of our entire population--is
illiterate. And a recent report from the Librarian of
Congress suggests that we may have at least the same
number who are aliterate.