I think it interesting that as a child I would spend hours reading, browsing my local library, and writing my own little stories, but as an adult I now find myself having to make and set aside time to read. As much as I love to spend time in books, it can seem like a chore some days. With busy work and class schedules and seemingly endless other things to do, I know this is a shared experience. Thus, I must wonder, why don’t we read with the same enthusiasm and ease as we did when we were little? How does the lack of consistent reading negatively impact us? Why do we rely on screens for entertainment?  

First, it’s important to realize what the benefits of reading are; for the purposes of this article, we are referring exclusively to traditional, analog, bound-paper books. Reading improves vocabulary, improves sleep, strengthens your brain, and has ties to increasing empathy and longevity in adults. A 2017 study from the National Library of Medicine found that people who read books experienced a 20% reduction in mortality risk over 12 years compared to non-book readers. Reading fosters creativity and imagination. One’s ability to create and problem solve improves by being exposed to new storylines and differing ideas.  

The National Education Association (NEA) reported in a 2022 Survey of Public Participation in the Arts that 48.5% of adults read at least one book in the past year. Even more shocking (though not too surprising with current parenting trends) is that 39% of U.S nine-year-olds reported reading for fun almost every day—a steep drop off from decades prior, reported by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) National Assessment of Educational Progress.  

These declines signal a deeper issue for both adults and children. Why aren’t we reading? The most obvious reason is that both ages have a shorter attention span, in part due to the unnatural amount of time spent on electronics. For children today, I find it absurd that parents stick their child in front of a screen for long periods of time as a default and give them unlimited access to social media and the internet. Not only is the latter wildly unsafe, but the increased time on screens for young children hinders their development later in life. Go get an Etch-A-Sketch, kiddos. A 2023 study by the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics found that 1-year olds that were exposed to 4 or more hours a day on screens experienced developmental delays between the ages of two and four. Additionally, a 2023 study from the National Library of Medicine found that excessive screen time severely inhibits socio-emotional growth, increases likelihood of obesity, and mental health conditions like anxiety and depression.  

Knowing all of this, we must logically conclude that if all of these consequences of screen time affect children so negatively, adults must also suffer at the hands of blue-light and nonsensical brain-rot.  

Reading is an escape, an essential form of entertainment that saves you from quoting Tik-Tok incessantly. It keeps you sharp. In this vein, I’ll spare you from a longer article, and I now encourage you to get off your phone. Go read.