Are books dead? Why Gen Z doesn't read
Even academically inclined teens aren't turning the pages anymore. That doesn't bode well.
Earlier this year, a college professor writing at Slate lamented that his students had begun to struggle with reading. While he once routinely assigned 30 pages of reading a class, “Now students are intimidated by anything over 10 pages and seem to walk away from readings of as little as 20 pages with no real understanding,” he wrote. I have heard similar stories from my fellow faculty members around the country, who say that students complain about reading anything longer than a few pages.
Perhaps we’re just getting old, our perceptions are off, or maybe teens have never read all that much. Or perhaps this is a pandemic deficit that will soon fade. Fortunately, due to my favorite big national survey of teens, there’s a way to find out.
First, let’s think about reading a little more. Reading is not natural for humans the way that speaking is. Children learn how to speak by hearing others speak. Reading is different: It must initially be taught, and then it must be practiced. For most people, the more you read, the faster you can read, and that pays off later in school and at work.
In particular, reading long-form text, including books, is necessary for success in college, graduate school, and in many jobs. It’s also useful for understanding politics, policy, and parenting. Thus, if there have been changes in reading among young people, that has implications for education, the workforce, families, and for our democracy.
Since 1976, the Monitoring the Future Survey has asked a large, nationally representative sample of American high school seniors how many books they read in the last year “just because you wanted to – that is, without their being assigned.” Thus, it’s asking about reading for pleasure outside of anything for school.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Generation Tech to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.