Fewer people are picking up something to read just for the sheer enjoyment of it, according to a new study by the University of Florida and University College London.
UF researchers and their colleagues concluded that “leisure reading” in the United States has declined about 40% in the past 20 years. The project reviewed input from over 236,000 Americans who took part in the American Time Use Survey, a study conducted between 2003 and 2023.
“The findings suggest a fundamental cultural shift: few people are carving out time in their day to read for enjoyment,” a UF news release said.
UF researchers say the implications on American culture are alarming.
“This is not just a small dip — it’s a sustained, steady decline of about 3% per year,” said Jill Sonke, Director of Research Initiatives at the UF Center for Arts in Medicine and co-director of the EpiArts Lab, a National Endowment for the Arts research lab at UF in partnership with University College London.
“It’s significant, and it’s deeply concerning.”
The decline in leisure reading wasn’t limited to any socioeconomic group or population segment. The study did find steeper declines among some Black Americans than White Americans. But both rural and metropolitan residents showed declines.
“While people with higher education levels and women are still more likely to read, even among these groups, we’re seeing shifts,” said Jessica Bone, senior research fellow in statistics and epidemiology at University College London. “And among those who do read, the time spent reading has increased slightly, which may suggest a polarization, where some people are reading more while many have stopped reading altogether.”
The study concluded there can be steps taken to intervene in the decline in leisure reading among Americans. A reversal will have to start with young people, the study found.
“Reading with children is one of the most promising avenues,” said Daisy Fancourt, a professor of psychology and epidemiology at University College London and co-director of the EpiArts Lab. “It supports not only language and literacy, but empathy, social bonding, emotional development and school readiness.”
She added that community-centered reading opportunities would likely be one of the more reliable ways to ensure increased reading capacity among young people.
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