As a kid growing up in the ’60s and ’70s, I remember public service announcements interrupting my Saturday-morning cartoon time to tell me about an organization called Reading Is Fundamental. RIF is still around, and still working to promote literary among children in the U.S., but judging from a recent study of American’s reading habits, fewer people in this country are reading for pleasure than they were two decades ago.
According to this study, “reading for pleasure in the United States has declined by more than 40% over the last 20 years–raising urgent questions about the cultural, educational and health consequences of a nation reading less.”
Potential causes for the decline include the rise of social media, less leisure time, economic pressures, and limited access to books and libraries in some parts of the country, the researchers say.
While the article doesn’t define “reading for pleasure,” I take it to mean reading the stuff you don’t have to read for work or school, or to assemble a bunk bed or lawn mower. Things like novels, short stories, poetry, creative nonfiction, and the like. In other words, the things writers like me work on and hope you’ll read. But it also could mean histories, biographies, cultural analyses, or self-help books. In essence, whatever kind of reading you enjoy.
What difference does it make?
What does it matter if reading for pleasure is in decline? That is, aside from the purely selfish reasons I and other writes may have, that we want people to read (and hopefully pay for) what we write. What difference does it make?
According to the researchers, this decline “is concerning given that this activity is tied to early literacy development, academic success and family bonding.”
Furthermore:
Reading for pleasure has long been recognized not just as a tool for education, but as a means of supporting mental health, empathy, creativity and lifelong learning. The EpiArts Lab, which uses large data sets to examine links between the arts and health, has previously identified clear associations between creative engagement and well-being.
“Reading has historically been a low-barrier, high-impact way to engage creatively and improve quality of life,” [researcher Jill] Sonke said. “When we lose one of the simplest tools in our public health toolkit, it’s a serious loss.”
‘A workout for the brain’
The CNN report about this research cites one expert who calls reading “a workout for the brain” and notes that it not only strengthens our cognitive abilities, it also helps us destress and develop compassion and empathy.
So what can wo do to reverse this trend? How can we help make reading fun again?
The researchers identify some promising signs. The percentage of adults who read with children has not declined over the past 20 years, but not all of that reading is for pleasure. Also, if you write romance, fantasy or mystery, you’re in luck. Those genres have had a surge in popularity in recent years, according to the CNN article.
More community-centered reading opportunities also might help reverse the decline, the researchers say. It also might help to “make local libraries more accessible and attractive, encourage book groups, and make reading a more social and supported activity–not just something done in isolation,” says one of the researchers, Jessica Bone.
If we can rekindle that spirit of those old Saturday-morning RIF PSAs, that reading is FUN-damental, maybe we will be taking a step in the right direction.
Cover image via Pexels.
Andy writes! 