Among the new generation, teens and young adults are less inclined to read for pleasure due to the rise in screen time and academic responsibilities. This fosters an environment where students see reading as a demand, and are less inclined to do so for pleasure outside of their English class. The increase in phone usage and short-form content like TikTok and Instagram decreases attention spans, disabling focus for reading and following a long-term storyline.
The recently developed habit of scrolling for many young adults has made activities that require focus feel harder. With the constant spurs for dopamine and entertainment, activities such as reading have developed into an activity classified as more of a commitment and requiring extra effort. Before, it was viewed as a delightful and calming activity.
Social media and phone usage is the main factor for young people’s decrease in desire to read. Scrolling apps such as TikTok and Instagram provide instant gratification. People stay hooked onto the apps and endlessly scroll in hopes to encounter a video that is interesting and enjoyable. Because social media feeds are tailored to individual interests, scrollers constantly encounter videos and posts that they like, and therefore continue scrolling in hopes to find similarly enjoyable videos. As a result, scrolling is viewed as an easy activity because of the constant opportunity for dopamine and multiple short videos that cause enjoyment. This has trained brains to crave quick content instead of the slower, more immersive experiences like reading a book.
Reading can feel like “too much effort” compared to the instant stimulation of screens. Even when people want to read, it is hard to focus after hours of fast-paced digital content. Moreover, many believe they do not have time to read, despite having screen times of several hours. While reading could be substituted into their schedule, instant gratification from scrolling is prioritized.
Even for the students who do not have social media, the time for reading is often reduced due to academic demands and extracurricular activities. Growing restraints such as heavy homework nights and rigorous studying can take away the time to indulge in reading. After completing all assignments and preparing for upcoming assessments, students are left drained and less inclined to pick up a book. Reading a book for enjoyment becomes classified as a distant task rather than a regular habit.
Additionally, students who partake in after-school activities such as athletics, musical groups, part-time employment or volunteer work often lack free time for reading. The constant pressure to complete schoolwork productively as well as participate in extracurriculars fosters an environment in which leisure reading appears unproductive or even indulgent. As such, even students who genuinely enjoy reading are often not able to find the time or energy to sit down with a book. As free time is filled with schoolwork and other responsibilities, reading for fun starts to disappear from daily life. This loss of personal time shows how the busy schedules of many young adults, as well as the prioritization of instant gratification, lead to the categorization of reading as only a time-permitting activity.
