The other day I read a concerning article1 in The Guardian about the decline of reading. Apparently since 2003, the percentage of Americans who read for pleasure has fallen by 40%. Given that the number wasn’t that high to start with, we’re looking at only 16% of the population now reading for reasons other than work or study. The numbers are even worse for low income, rural, and Black American groups.
Honestly, as depressing as it is, I wasn’t surprised. When you’re in a waiting room at the dentist’s office or in line anywhere, what do you see? Everyone is on their phones. No throwing stones here — I do it too. Maybe some of them are reading e-books, but more likely it’s social media, games, news clickbait, or other short form content. Things have come a long way since I was a kid in the 80s and 90s, when your only chance at avoiding boredom was to bring a book with you.
The Guardian’s article does point to shifting technology as a contributing factor but also suggests larger structural issues like economic insecurity and lack of leisure time for many (most? we don’t value leisure much anymore, do we?) working Americans. There’s also the potential difficulty of accessing materials if, for example, you live in a rural or low-income area without a library close by. While I can see all of these contributing to the decline, I wonder how much of this change is a cultural shift. Kids grow up with fewer books, they see less adults reading for pleasure, and apps are designed to be addictive. Why would they read?
My senior in high school is taking AP Lit this year, and when I saw his reading list for the course, my jaw (figuratively) dropped. The number of novels they’ll be reading over a full school year equates roughly to what we were required to read in the summer before my Honors English class in the 90s. When I think about the total books he’s read in high school English, the picture becomes even more depressing—and this is at a wonderful private school that my family loves. The same thing appears to be happening at the college level too. Faculty members are dropping longer reading assignments and more challenging texts from their courses because their students aren’t capable of (or won’t) read the material.
As an author, I obviously have a vested interest in growing a reading public. After all, you can’t sell a product when you have no consumers. But even more so, as a thinking adult, I long to see something better for the generations coming after me. Reading builds empathy, emotional intelligence, creativity, and language and communication skills.2 And while reading aloud to kids (either as parents or in school) goes a long way, I’m not sure it’s enough. My oldest is now a sophomore in college, and despite my many hours (months? years?) of reading aloud to him, he’ll still choose YouTube or a video game or programming (he is a comp sci major, in his defense) over a library book in almost every case.
So what can we do? I think the answer lies in shifting our culture back into one where reading is valued across generations, where picking up a book when you have free time isn’t unusual. Here are some ideas I’ve been tossing around that might help start moving things the right direction:
1. Make reading normal again. Phones are everywhere. Keep your phone in your pocket and pull out a book instead. (Maybe we can bring back mass market paperbacks while we’re at it!) When you have that interstitial time in the waiting room or in the school pickup line or in the ten minutes before you have to run out the door, read a book instead of using your phone. Let other people see you reading. I always feel like I’ve found a kindred spirit when I see someone else with a book at the dentist’s office.
2. Read to kids. When you capture a child’s imagination with a story, you open up a whole new world to them. But if kids never hear stories because they’re so engrossed in digital technology, they’ll never know what they’re missing. If you’re a parent or grandparent or older sibling or babysitter, read to the kids in your care. If you’re a teacher, find a way to sneak in reading an engaging story to your students in between all the core curriculum you’re mandated to teach. My fifth grade teacher read one chapter aloud to us every day after lunch from classic childhood books like My Side of the Mountain and Bridge to Terabithia, and I credit that experience to shaping so much of my imagination and love of reading.
3. Support teachers and bookstores and libraries. Donate books to teachers you know for their classrooms. Shop at your local bookstore. Vote “yes” on that millage to support your local library system. Volunteer at the public library or with a local literacy campaign or as a tutor in an underprivileged school system. Fight to get (or keep) school libraries and librarian jobs in your local school system.3
4. Display books in your house. If you’re supporting bookstores and libraries, reading to your kids, and carrying around your own books, it’s natural you’ll have books at home. Display them on bookshelves or leave a stack on the coffee table or in a basket near your fireplace. You can find books in nearly every room of our house (my kids have often lamented the lack of waterproof books for the shower). Books are often lying where they shouldn’t be on the table or the floor, but instead of irritating me, it makes my heart happy to know my kids love reading.
5. Share and talk about what you’re reading on social media. I know it sounds counterintuitive to use digital technology to promote books, but with how much time people spend online, it’s a great way to help make reading normal again. Bookish communities already exist online, which is fantastic, but the more of us talking about books, the better.
6. Join or start a book club. It doesn’t have to be big. My book club only has four members, including me, and at times over the years there have only been two or three of us. Find like-minded people who want to read the same kinds of books as you and get together every now and then (in person or online) to talk about what you’ve picked to read. My book club reads thick classics that we wouldn’t read on our own. Each year in August, we choose a book (or two, if they happen to be on the shorter side), and then break it up into sections. We meet four times or so over the school year to catch up with each other and talk about what we’ve read. If I’m ever at a loss for something to read, I’ll at least have my classic book to bring with me.
Will this stuff make a difference? I think it comes down to scale. If only a few of us keep doing these things, then no, probably not. Only 16% (or maybe that number is still declining) of us will read for fun. But if more people join in, or see and hear us talking about books, then hopefully the joy of reading will grow once again.
I’m convinced not all hope is lost. I was talking with my senior in high school about George Orwell’s 1984, which he chose for his AP Lit class to read over the summer. To my utter surprise, my oldest, the CS-major college sophomore, jumped in with his opinions on the book, then brought up Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. I gave him a puzzled look and asked if he’d read either. “Sure, Mom, I’ve read them both.” On his own. In his free time. Digital versions, sure, but classic novels all the same.
Maybe we shouldn’t write off his generation just yet.
In case you’re looking for a book to read…
I’d be remiss not to suggest my own! If you haven’t read it, be sure to check out my YA thriller Thin Air, which is an Agatha Christie meets The Westing Game mystery with a side of no-spice romance.
Right now (enter by Saturday 8/30/25) I’m giving away TWO nice, portable paperback copies over on Instagram.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/aug/20/reading-for-pleasure-study
More articles about the benefits of reading for pleasure:
On the importance of school libraries: Investing in School Libraries and Librarians To Improve Literacy Outcomes - Center for American Progress
Well said! I love how reading opens us up to characters, worlds, and viewpoints we'd never know about otherwise. It does help develop compassion and insight.
Our high school English teachers used to make the kids pick a book they wanted to read. It could be anything. Then the teacher gave them 5 minutes at the beginning of class to read it.
I loved walking around my classroom and seeing what my students were reading if they finished classwork early. I'd see fantasy, military, romance, and contemporary fiction. It was fun asking them why they picked a particular book or what they liked best about it.