“I don’t have time,” I would try to convince myself whenever I realized how long it had been since I picked up a book to read — for fun, not for English class.
I used to carry a book everywhere I went, whether on the car ride home, at lunch, or on a trip during school break. I would devour anything from fantasy to mystery to young adult novels, immersing myself in the magical world of Harry Potter or Agatha Christie’s suspenseful narration.
However, over the years, I slowly lost some of that connection with books. Instead of picking up a new novel to start reading, I chose other pastimes like hanging out with friends or watching TV.
But I think I was not the only one.
As I looked around at school, close to no one ever had their head buried in a book, save perhaps a teacher or a student scrambling to finish assigned reading during lunch. When students were supposed to discuss something they chose to read for their summer reading, many did not have anything to talk about, revealing the flaws in my high school’s “choose your own text” summer reading requirements and, more importantly, a decline in reading.
According to a Gallup poll published earlier this year, 27% of Americans report reading more than 10 books, which is down eight percentage points since 2016 and lower than every prior measure by at least four points.
Notably, there was a steep decline in subgroups that tend to be more avid readers, with the percentage of college graduates reading more than 10 books in a year dropping from 48% between 2002 and 2016 to 35% in 2021, older adults falling from 34% to 24%, and women decreasing from 41% to 32%.
Nonetheless, it is also important to consider that their finding of a decline in book reading is a function of fewer people reading a larger number of books and not fewer people reading any at all. In other words, the percentage of people reading any books is generally stable. Therefore, this is not to say that no one is reading anymore, but rather that people choose to read less in their free time.
Maybe this is due to the rise of technology and media, or possibly the limiting nature of a fast-paced society. Instead of sitting down in a quiet nook with a book, people might want to watch the latest episode of the show everyone was raving about at school or skim through a few news articles out of the hundreds published that day.
At least, that is what appeared to have happened, especially from the perspective of a student and resident in Silicon Valley, a preeminent hub of technology and innovation. News is pushed out daily, but an article’s shelf life is often only a few weeks, sometimes just a few days. Our attention span is frequently shortened, given that the Bay Area’s competitive culture constantly calls for new, creative ideas and quick, effective changes.
Middle school and high school are no different — students switch classrooms every hour, adjusting within minutes from analyzing institutional racism in Richard Wright’s “Native Son” to taking a calculus test. While there may not be a quick and easy solution to this situation, change can always start with the individual.
When I removed myself from the bustling life of the area and reread some of my favorite passages from the novels on my bookshelf, I was once again instantly pulled into another world — a familiar world that had made me laugh, cry, and think. And these smallest efforts, like saving some time to read, make me hopeful that more people can soon rediscover the hidden wonders between the pages of a novel.
Grace Wu is a senior at Carlmont High School in Belmont. Student News appears in the weekend edition. You can email Student News at news@smdailyjournal.com.
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(2) comments
Thank you for this Grace! As a bookstore owner I am constantly watching the ebb and flow of book sales around the country. I'm also an avid reader, who, like you, finds himself with much less quiet time to sit and read. When we take vacations to a cabin I literally inhale four of five books in very short order. Among our best friends are one couple who are very disciplined in carving out at least one hour every single day for reading. Given your inspiration I think I'll follow suit! Keep writing!!!
Ms. Wu, a great Student news column today. I’d like to throw out a differing view on the lack of readership – a lack of interest because of numerous books released on a weekly basis and numerous books on the shelves. There’s no easy way to separate the wheat from the chaff. One can easily discount political books based on fake news and lies and books about the physics of the universe (sorry, my pet peccadillo because everything is always introduced by “scientists theorize”). But what about the multitude of novels and non-fiction books (based on faulty, or outdated, research)?
Many readers, including myself, stick to authors they’ve previously read and have experience with. As for unread authors, thank goodness for public library e-book lending (or other sources). I can sample new books and have no qualms about “disposing” the book if the writing is not to my liking. (Sorry, Mr. Wiesner, perhaps it’s why I don’t think I’ve ever set foot in your bookstore.) Perhaps readers these days are finding more “disposable” books and they’ve given up as it’s easier to find something else to interest them instead of hoping to find a hidden wonder between the pages, only to be disappointed after investing hours or days of reading.
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