Allow me to scare the shit out of you.
As of 2022, only 48.5% of American adults reported reading at least one book in the past year.
This marks a decline from previous years: 52.7% in 2017 and 54.6% in 2012.
Which means over half of American adults have not read a single book this past year. (Which is insane, and disturbing.)
The trend reflects a gradual decline in reading habits over the past decade, and it’s worse for literature (i.e. novels and short stories).
Notably, only 37.6% of adults reported reading fiction in 2022, compared to 41.8% in 2017, and 45.2% in 2012.
For children, it’s even uglier:
Approximately 40% of students across the nation cannot read at a basic level. (That’s nearly 20 million kiddos.)
Among 13-year-olds surveyed in the 2023 school year:
Meanwhile, teenagers, on average, are spending over 9 hours per day on screens, while adults are clocking in at 7.2 hours.
And how often are they reading?
The average adult today reads for approximately 15-19 minutes a day.
With children ages 15-19, it’s even scarier: 9 hours a day spent on screens; only 8 minutes reading.
Sadly, this is not a drill. We are firmly entrenched in an apocalypse of the illiterate.
What does it say about a culture that reads less and less?
A culture where fewer children aspire to be writers of depth and substance, as opposed to “influencers,” celebrated for their shimmer and surface?
In our humble opinions, this is a time of grave crisis.
We are facing a new existential threat to our species.
To put it simply: we have forgotten how to read.
Which is why I’m making it my singular mission to help make literature cool again.
That is why each week, I’ll be reporting on the greatest authors of fiction, past and present, famous and obscure, to remind you that literature used to exist, it used to matter…
And it still can.
(I’ll also be keeping you updated on the latest happenings surrounding the release of THE AUTHOR by The Author. So stay tuned to your inbox.)
When you pick up a book, you’re doing your part to resurrect literature once again.
Thank you for reading this. Now, take it offline.
Good day, and good reading.
- Daniel
The Author’s Representative
