In a world where scrolling has replaced reading, the simple act of sitting down with a book is becoming increasingly rare. The American bookworm might be an endangered species, with just under a third of Americans having read a book in the past year, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.
America is in the midst of a reading crisis: an ongoing, nationwide decline in people reading for pleasure, according to the Stern Center for Language and Learning.
This nationwide decline in reading is present at CESJDS, though to a lesser degree than the nation as a whole. A survey of 119 JDS high school students conducted by the Lion’s Tale, 31.1% reported reading less than one book per month and 85.7% reported wanting to read more than they do currently.
According to a survey of 300 teachers by Education Weekly, only 17% of third to eighth-grade teachers said that they teach full novels, and a quarter said that books are no longer the center of their curriculum.
JDS, however, leans more toward full books. JDS students read roughly 21 books throughout their high school career. The conistent reading of full books like this improves students’ literacy among other benefits.
According to the results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) published in a New York Times article, the number of eighth-grade students with “below basic” reading skills on the exam is the highest it has been in three decades, at 33%.
For some, making it this far into this article might seem unimaginable. Here’s why:
Causes of the reading crisis:
The reading crisis stems from a combination of cultural, technological and behavioral shifts over recent decades. One of the most frequently cited causes is the rapid growth of digital technology and social media.
Platforms like TikTok and Instagram are contributing to declining attention spans, especially among children and adolescents. The shift toward rapid short-form consumption reduces attention spans and makes it harder for people to commit to reading a book in its entirety.
“There’s such a large growth in the use of technology,” High School Learning Specialist and sophomore dean Brett Kugler said. “You’re not training your brain to take that longer chunk of time.”
In the same survey conducted by the Lion’s Tale, 49.6% of the 119 students reported “not having enough time” as the primary reason that they don’t read more.
“I feel like I spend most of my time doing homework, and no longer have time to read for pleasure anymore,” sophomore Liana Lesser said. “And I wish I had more time to read because it makes me happy.”
Another contributing factor is the sheer number of entertainment options. According to Statista, American adults spend an average of eight hours a day on digital media, much of it fragmented across multiple apps and devices. With smartphones accessible at all times, people turn to them rather than books, for entertainment, connection and information.
“The prevalence of social media and smartphones and screen devices distracts,” Media Specialist Mirele Kessous said. “It is a distraction. I’m not saying it’s a bad distraction, but it is a distraction.”
According to the Census Bureau, the number of bookstores in the U.S. dropped from 12,151 in 1998 to 6,045 in 2019, a more than 50% reduction. The decline in physical bookstores has limited opportunities for people to casually discover new books. This trend also marks a broader societal shift with people less willing to spend money and time looking for books.
With fewer bookstores, communities lose a space where readers can browse and build a reading habit. Gayle Weiswasser, co-owner of Bethesda’s Wonderland Books, opened her store because she felt a gap was left behind in Bethesda after major chains closed.
“There hasn’t been a bookstore here since Barnes and Noble closed … and it just seemed really ripe for a bookstore,” Weiswasser said. “We had a suspicion that there was a big void there that could be filled.”
Impacts:
One of the biggest impacts of the reading crisis is children’s inability to develop crucial cognitive skills. A study done by the University of Cambridge compared children who had been reading for pleasure for three to 10 years to children who did not read for fun.
The children who read for fun were found to perform better in school and on cognitive tests such as verbal learning, memory and speech development.
According to National University, reading helps with empathy development, communication, vocabulary expansion, brain strength and reading stamina. Also, according to Forbes, reading more fiction helps with building skills such as critical thinking, emotional intelligence and memory.
“It’s incredibly important to read outside of the classroom, because you really do afford yourself the chance to read things that are interesting to you and to broaden your horizons,” Kugler said.
As a result of the reading crisis, students have started to lose the attention and desire to read full-length books.
According to CBS, only one in 10 American high school seniors read at least six books beginning to end in 2024.
“I’ve heard stories about college professors who have students who’ve never read a book in its entirety,” Kessous said. “Or they’ll assign a book, and the kids freak out because they’re not used to that level of sustained focus.”
Similarly, English Department Chair Melissa Fisanich has noticed that students’ patience to read longer books has decreased.
“There are fewer students who are voracious readers,” Fisanich said. “… Students have a harder time when we’re reading high school things, or a Shakespeare book, or a harder book like ‘Frankenstein,’ when they read an unfamiliar word, they actually have a hard time knowing how to decode that word.”
Getting back into reading:
While the reading crisis is a growing concern, flexible and personalized approaches to reading can help teens make up for lost skills. The key to rebuilding a love for reading is making it accessible and enjoyable.
Reading seems like a simple task for some, but once a teen stops reading regularly, it can be hard to pick up a book again. According to middle school English teacher David Carrington, it is important for teens to rebuild habits of reading consistently.
“If we start building our ‘reading muscle,’ it’ll get stronger and stronger,” Carrington said. “Once you build up that reading muscle, you’re much more likely to keep reading.”
The first step to getting back into reading is finding something enjoyable to read. Without the right book, reading can feel like a chore.
“The best way to inspire a love of reading is to let people read what they love,” Weiswasser said. “If that means graphic novels, let them read graphic novels … Don’t judge or restrict what people are reading. Curiosity is a powerful entry point, and once someone discovers what excites them, they’ll keep reading.”
For those unsure where to start, social media can help point the way. Specialized apps like GoodReads can also be very helpful in finding reading material.
“Book communities on Instagram and TikTok are full of people passionately discussing what they’re reading,” Weiswasser said. “That kind of excitement is contagious.”
One example of online book communities is “BookTok” on TikTok. “BookTok” is a subcommunity of the app dedicated to discussing and recommending books. Browsing “BookTok” can make it easier to find books based on individual interest.
Pleasure reading shouldn’t feel like a chore or a burden. Rather, it should feel like a mental escape and an opportunity for for imaginative exploration.
“Reading is like eating,” Kessous said. “Not everyone likes the same foods, but everyone finds something they love. If a book doesn’t grab you after 25 to 50 pages, put it down and find another. There is a book out there for you.”
Reading physical books is not the only way to keep reading. Tools like audiobooks, magazines and blogs are all means to gaining some of the same benefits that reading provides, according to Fisanich.
“If reading for you is listening to something being read out loud, that counts as reading,” Fisanich said. “If you’re listening to it and you have the book open and you can stop and annotate, I count that as reading.”
If the price of books is a limiting factor to reading, many resources can be helpful in finding cheap books. One is Libby, an app that allows users to borrow ebooks, digital audiobooks, and magazines from their public library when they upload a library card, according to their website. The Levitt Family Media Center and local public libraries are also strong resources for students.
According to Carrington, what’s being read is not that important. It is, however, important to just choose to read.
“You do not have to crack open a physical book,” Carrington said. “If you love sports, cooking or some hobby, find the people writing about that and read, read, read.”
