A book was assigned to Megan Swartzendruber ‘25 and various other students interested in a Hills Bank scholarship. As someone who had been reading books consistently since elementary school, she had no trouble with the task. As she looked around at the other teenagers around her who claimed to never read books, she realized her situation was somewhat unique. She noticed a pattern in the high schoolers around her not reading much.
“When I’m either in class or an outside activity, and we’re supposed to read a book, there will be some people who say they really don’t ever read books. And there’s a whole bunch of people that have never finished a book and say they don’t like reading. That’s when it really stands out that people don’t read as much,” Swartzendruber said.
The Pew Research Center reports that 19% of 17-year-olds read almost every day. This has decreased more than 10% since 1984. In fact, in the age groups of nine-year-olds, 13-year-olds, and 17-year-olds, all report an increase in reading never or hardly since 1984. But should people be worried about this decrease in reading for high schoolers?
“I don’t think it’s a misconception [that high schoolers read less], because I do think high school kids nowadays read a lot less. But I do think it’s unfair to say all high school kids don’t read, because I know me and plenty of other people read a lot. But I think high schoolers do not read that much in general. I’ve talked about [reading] before with people, and they brag about not having read books outside of school since middle school. So I think in general, our generation doesn’t read as much. It’s stupid. You’re bragging about not learning. You’re like, ‘Oh, I’m limiting myself from learning anything by not reading,’” Yaffa Roarick ‘25 said.
As high schoolers’ reading habits decline, teachers take note of this pattern.
“I started a new thing with this board over here where I’m like, put your favorite book, movie, show, music, game for the month. And there are not a lot of books up there on the like list. It’s sort of a visual indicator that people are reading for enjoyment less, or at the very least, are sharing that they’re reading for enjoyment less,” Mr. Lockhart, a World Literature and AP English Literature teacher said.
So the question is, what is causing this decline in reading for fun, or even reading in general, among teenagers?
“I just don’t feel like I get assigned that many books. I’m taking an essay writing class and a grammar class and we don’t read any books. And in freshman and sophomore year, we didn’t read that much either. So maybe it wasn’t a decline. It’s overall just been not that much,” Roarick said.
Some students have claimed that they aren’t assigned many books in high school, ranging from around five to nine books assigned in their entire high school career. But when assigned books, many students still avoid reading.
“I don’t like the school books that are assigned, but I like reading when I get to choose the book. I don’t enjoy reading for an assignment because it feels forced, and it’s very easy to just look up synopses or summaries. Assigning books that people don’t care about contributes to the lack of people not reading. If the only books you’ve read have been assigned books that are boring, you’re gonna think all books are boring,” Greta Hayek ‘25 said.
The lack of freedom in the choice of book to read is not the only reason that stops high schoolers from reading assigned books. Piling reading onto school and other work can be harder for some students.
“I feel like most people CliffsNotes stuff. Or they try [to do the assigned reading] but the teacher gives too big of a reading assignment and doesn’t really understand the sheer amount of time it takes to read 50 pages a day on top of all the other homework. So then kids just fall behind and then they start CliffsNoting all of it. They give it a good attempt, and then they just fall behind. But I think a lot of the books [teachers] assign, they assign for a reason. They educate you on different circumstances and they are important to read. So it does kind of irritate me that kids are like, ‘These are stupid. We shouldn’t read them.’ But also, who am I to judge? I’m sure they’re just cliff noting because they’re so busy in school,” Roarick said.
This refusal to read assigned books has become so apparent that teachers have started to adapt to this, adopting new teaching methods to make sure that students understand what is happening in class.
“There’s two books in World Lit that I read out loud almost entirely. I know Mrs. Lockhart does something similar. She plays audiobooks for a couple of them because, and I think you’d probably find a lot of agreement if you ask the other English teachers about this, but we’ve just seen a lot of times where reading is assigned and then when class rolls around and too many students haven’t done the reading to make whatever lesson we were gonna do impractical. In years past, you could kind of take it as a given that people would do the reading. But now more and more people aren’t, and enough people aren’t that it’s like shifting the way the class needs to be done,” Mr. Lockhart said.
Both students and teachers explain that this decrease in reading both for fun and for school has been caused by a number of factors including an increase in homework, confusing legislation surrounding books, and English teachers in turn not knowing what books are safe to assign. But the most common theme around the cause for the reading crisis is technology.
“I feel like less than half [of high schoolers] read daily because technology is more accessible and they can just be on their phone and scroll on social media instead of reading,” Hayek said.
Technology has made many things more accessible. For example, Kindles allow people to read multiple books on one device, making reading more books easier. But technology itself is also incredibly accessible, causing people to opt for devices instead of books out of convenience.
“[Students] spend more time on their phones. With the internet now, if you go places like the airport, you can just sit on your phone for a while. But you used to live with no internet or anything, and you just had to bring a book or something else to do. So I think now that we have the internet, more people find other things to do besides reading,” Swartzendruber said.
Spending a lot of time on phones and technology has caused a decrease in attention span. Since reading requires sustained attention, it is a harder activity for someone who has been conditioned to watch short 15-second videos on social media.
“Now, reading is different from anything else we do. We consume short bits online, whether that’s through reels or Tiktok, [while] a book forces you to sit with the ideas for a while. Books have a way of living with you more than other storytelling forms can. In a way, a book latches onto your soul and becomes a part of you in a way that I don’t think other things do,” Mr. Lockhart said.
Besides the unique satisfaction that comes from reading a book, reading also has many other benefits. Reading more, especially while younger, improves literacy. When high schoolers move on to college without reading a lot, it shows.
“It’s a little scary to think that people going to college won’t even take the time to read a full book, and they’re going into higher education. I mean, the amount you read is not equivalent to your intelligence, but I think it’s interesting that someone could be going to an Ivy League school and they haven’t read a book in their free time in two years or something,” Roarick said.
The academic benefits from consistent reading starting from a young age cannot be replicated by social media and technology. Many students find that consistent reading has helped them throughout their academic career.
“Reading throughout elementary school and junior high really helped me now in my college classes where I have to read textbooks. So just being able to sit and read for long periods of time helped me read textbooks because I understand a little bit more,” Swartzendruber said.
However, reading is still appreciated by many teenagers. Although there has been an obvious decline, that does not mean that every high schooler does not read.
“I think probably the best way to think about reading is to think about it in terms of getting to know another person. Because while reading has declined a little bit, I don’t necessarily think that writing has. I found that with a lot of writing assignments, particularly personal writing assignments, people really sink their teeth into that and they like thinking about themselves and they want to put their life down on paper and figure things out. And so every book is kind of an attempt by another person at some point in time, trying to make sense of the world. And so if you think about it like that, in terms of trying to get to know the world view of another person, it can actually be a little more personal to folks,” Mr. Lockhart said.
