Personal Reading is Dying

In 2023, the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) found that only 14 percent of 13-year-olds reported reading for fun “almost every day,” compared to 27 percent in 2012. Reading for fun, which I’ll refer to as “personal reading,” is defined as “any kind of reading done for enjoyment or purposes other than work or school” and has innumerable personal benefits. These range from increases in general reading comprehension and vocabulary to promoting sleep quality or reducing stress. A 2019 study, for instance, found that 42% of people who read a book before bed for a week reported increases in sleep quality, compared to 28% for the control group. For years, there’s been a mountain of evidence backing the idea that personal reading is just good, plain and simple. Yet personal reading has undergone a calamitous decline over the past couple decades. The obvious question is: Why?

At first glance, it seems logical to blame the recent decrease in reading as a result of the pandemic. This, however, is a tenuous connection at best. Levels of personal reading were declining well before the pandemic—since the 1940s, in fact. It’s undisputed that the pandemic triggered massive setbacks in most students’ educational development—but this seems to generally be unrelated to personal reading levels.

What about social media? Studies have shown a negative correlation between use of digital media and personal reading levels. Increases in social media use has also been correlated with decreases in performance on reading and memory tasks, which can make the mere act of reading itself more difficult and less pleasurable and remove an individual’s internal motivation to read.  In short, social media is certainly a central contributor to the recent decline in personal reading.

But social media has only existed in its current form for only the past decade or two; what accounts for the pre-2010s drop in personal reading? The answer is likely the invention of other digital innovations, such as personal computers in the 2000s, color television in the 1970s, and normal television in the 1950s. Since the end of World War II, Americans have had their attention stretched by digital entertainment, with the natural effect of each new piece of technology pushing out time that would otherwise be spent reading. For instance, watching television still accounts for more American leisure time than any other activity. Add on social media and the rise of free, often mobile-based games (ahem Clash Royale) and it’s no wonder that Americans are reading far less nowadays than ever before.

Yet as an avid reader myself, I find this trend a little disheartening. Books are so full of vibrant characters and painful stories and wonderful words that I can’t help but be disappointed that so much of their magic is currently being ignored. As such, I’ve attached a reading list below (with some of my favorite books) for people who have always wanted to read more but haven’t found the motivation to start. Read often, and you’ll be surprised where books take you.

·       Sci-fi: Leviathan Wakes (James S.A. Corey, 2012)

·       Biographical: All Creatures Great and Small (James Herriot, 1972)

·       Victorian: The Woman in White (Wilkie Collins, 1860)

·       Epic: The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas, 1846)

·       Dystopian: 1984 (George Orwell, 1949)