{"id":14994,"date":"2023-03-21T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=14994"},"modified":"2023-06-02T02:26:23","modified_gmt":"2023-06-02T10:26:23","slug":"reading-fewer-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2023\/03\/21\/reading-fewer-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Are We Losing the Ability to Read Books?"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent Gallup poll finds that American adults are reading fewer books each year<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Americans say they read an average of 12.6 books during the past year, a smaller number than Gallup has measured in any prior survey dating back to 1990. U.S. adults are reading roughly two or three fewer books per year than they did between 2001 and 2016.<\/p>\n

\u2026<\/p>\n

The decline is greater among subgroups that tended to be more avid readers, particularly college graduates but also women and older Americans. College graduates read an average of about six fewer books in 2021 than they did between 2002 and 2016, 14.6 versus 21.1.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This is a worrying trend.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s possible, of course, to read fewer books and still engage in deep thinking. You can watch university classes on YouTube and read scientific papers online. Wikipedia does more than paper encyclopedias could have ever accomplished.<\/p>\n

Yet books still represent the best format for deep, sustained engagement with an idea or story. A decline in reading books does not necessarily mean a loss of depth in every case, but it probably indicates a trend toward more shallow engagement on average.<\/p>\n

Why Has Reading Books Declined?<\/h2>\n
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