Put down the book, pick up the phone.
The same thing is happening in the United States, where daily reading for pleasure among adults has fallen by more than 40% over the past two decades, according to a new study from the University of Florida and University College London.
From 2003 to 2023, daily leisure reading declined at a steady rate of about 3% per year, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal iScience.
“This decline is concerning given earlier evidence of declining trends in reading for pleasure from the 1940s until our study began in 2003, suggesting that there has been at least an 80-year decline in reading for pleasure,” the paper said.
Jill Sonck, one of the study's authors, said in an interview Tuesday that the decline is concerning in part because “we know that reading for pleasure, among other forms of arts participation, is a health-promoting behavior. It is associated with relaxation, well-being, mental health and quality of life.”
“We lose low-hanging fruit in our health toolbox when we read less or engage in the arts,” added Sonke, director of research initiatives at the UV Center for the Arts in Medicine and co-director of the university's EpiArts Lab.
The decline in reading occurs because most Americans have more access to books than ever before. Because of Libby and other e-reader apps, people don't have to travel to libraries or bookstores. They can borrow books from multiple libraries and read them on their tablets or phones.
But other forms of digital media are crowding out free minutes that people could devote to books. More time spent scrolling dank memes and videos on social networks or on a binge reboot of “King of the Hill” on Hulu means less time watching the latest Oprah's Book Club news.
But researchers say there are other factors at play besides digital distraction, including a general decline in free time in the country and uneven access to books and libraries.
The study analyzed data from 236,270 Americans ages 15 and older who completed the American Time Use Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics between 2003 and 2023. [The year 2020 was excluded because data collection was briefly paused amid the COVID-19 pandemic.]
Participants were asked to provide detailed information about their activities, starting at 4 a.m. on the day before the interview and ending at 4 a.m. on the day of the interview.
Researchers have found that people who read for pleasure do so for longer periods of time – from 1 hour and 23 minutes per day in 2003 to 1 hour and 37 minutes per day in 2023.
But the percentage of Americans who read during their free time on a typical day has fallen from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.
The researchers said there are particularly troubling disparities between black and white Americans.
The percentage of black adults who read for pleasure peaked at about 20% in 2004 and fell to about 9% in 2023. The percentage of white adults who picked up a book for fun peaked at about 29% in 2004 and fell to about 18% in 2023.
The study found that women read more for fun than men. And that rural residents have seen a slightly steeper decline in reading enjoyment over the past two decades than urban residents.
In rural areas, people have less access not only to bookstores and libraries, but also to reliable internet connections, which can contribute to changing reading habits, said Kate Laughlin, executive director of the Seattle-based Assn. for rural and small libraries, said in an interview Tuesday.
While there has been a concerted effort nationally to improve literacy among children, adults, especially in smaller towns, have received less attention, Laughlin said.
“When you say ‘reading for pleasure,’ you are suggesting that reading is enjoyable,” Laughlin said. “If someone has difficulty reading and interpreting words, it is not leisure; it feels like work.”
As rural America moves away from the resource-based industries that once defined it, such as logging, coal mining and fishing, adults struggling with basic literacy are struggling to catch up with the digital literacy needed in today's workforce, Laughlin said.
Rural librarians often see adults in their 20s and older who come not to read but to learn how to use a keyboard and mouse and set up their first email address so they can apply for jobs online, she said.
The percentage of adults reading to children has not declined over the past two decades, according to the study. But “engagement levels were surprisingly low, with only 2% of participants reading with their children on an average day.”
Of the participants whose data the researchers analyzed, 21% had a child under 9 years old at home.
The low percentage of adults reading with children is “worrisome given that regular reading in childhood is a critical determinant of reading ability and interest later in life,” the study said. “Thus, low reading levels among children may contribute to future declines in reading levels among adults.”
The researchers noted some limitations in their ability to interpret the American Time Use Survey data. Some types of recreational reading may have been mistakenly classified as digital activities, they write.
E-books weren't included in the reading category until 2011, and audiobooks weren't included until 2021.
From 2003 to 2006, reading the Bible and other religious texts was considered reading for personal interest, but was subsequently reclassified and grouped with other types of participation in religious practice.
Additionally, reading on tablets, computers, and smartphones was not explicitly included in the examples, so it is unclear whether survey participants included it in leisure reading or technology use.
“This may indicate that we underestimated the level of overall engagement, although…we expect any such misclassification to have minimal impact on our results,” they wrote.
