According to a USA Today article on 13/7, writer Nicole Russell highlighted that most Americans are living in a world lacking books. Data from the National Endowment for the Arts revealed that less than half of American adults read books in 2021. A 2022 Gallup survey indicated that the number of books Americans read annually reached a record low, with reading time steadily decreasing over two decades.
Further studies reinforce this trend. In 8/2025, the journal iScience published research based on data from over 236,000 Americans who participated in a time-use survey between 2003 and 2023. The results showed a consistent decrease in the time individuals dedicate to reading daily. A 2022 World Economic Forum study specifically noted that Americans spent about 23 minutes per day reading in 2004, a figure that plummeted to 16 minutes by 2019. This decline has raised alarms among educators from elementary to university levels, as they observe students struggling with basic reading comprehension skills.
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Americans spend less time reading each day. Photo: NBC News |
The pervasive influence of electronic devices is a primary cause. As author Rose Horowitch noted in an article for The Atlantic, "The decline in reading ability spans all age groups, genders, and educational levels." Reading demands concentration and persistence, a stark contrast to the passive and easy act of scrolling through a phone.
Today's youth increasingly prefer short videos, limiting text comprehension to 250-character posts on social media X or brief Instagram captions. Horowitch further explained that "the explosion of fragmented texts has left the public without enough focus for lengthy works, which contain rich, complex information." This phenomenon is encapsulated by the term "brain rot," chosen as Oxford University, England's word of the year in 2024. While the term first appeared in Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book Walden to denote oversimplification, its modern usage describes a smartphone-centric life, leading to cognitive and mental health decline from consuming numerous small, toxic online content.
Nicole Russell emphasized that reading books not only acquires knowledge but also trains the mind, enhancing focus and persistence. However, social media provides constant dopamine stimulation, pushing people towards easier choices. For example, individuals might question why they should drive, do housework, or cook when options like self-driving cars, cleaning robots, or food delivery are available, even if these conveniences come at double the cost.
Despite the allure of automation, true spiritual, emotional, or intellectual satisfaction remains elusive if one relies solely on such conveniences. Russell concluded that reading and appreciating books offer greater value than passively watching TikTok, as it is a process that requires significant effort before yielding meaningful results.
By Phuong Linh (USA Today, The Atlantic)
