#reading-decline

#reading-decline

Pleasure reading among American adults fell over 40% in two decades; bite-size Southern California literature offers solace and inspiration.

Leisure reading is declining while regular reading—especially fiction—boosts empathy, reduces stress, and helps preserve cognitive health.

Reading for pleasure has declined sharply in the U.S., undermining learning, relationships, well-being, and cognitive skills amid growing digital distraction.

Reading in the United States has declined sharply—about 40% over 20 years—driven partly by social media and increased work demands, reducing health-related benefits of reading.

U.S. high school and middle school students experienced continuing declines in reading, math, and science achievement, with 12th-grade scores at a 20-year low.

U.S. leisure reading participation fell about 40% over two decades while remaining readers spend modestly more time, and racial disparities in reading widened.