There has been a steady decline in reading for fun. From 2003 to 2023, the share of Americans who read for pleasure fell 40%, a sharp decline that is part of a continuing downward trend, according to a study published on Wednesday.
Replies
Reading what?
aug 20, 2025, 10:06 pm • 0 0 • view
Looking at both 2024 presidential candidates, the decline started decades earlier.
aug 20, 2025, 5:57 pm • 1 1 • view
Smartphones, the society-killing plague.
aug 20, 2025, 6:11 pm • 22 0 • view
Their loss. I’m watching less movies and shows and reading more for fun these days, and it has definitely lifted my mood
aug 21, 2025, 5:22 am • 4 0 • view
Damn it's like we don't have any fucking downtime anymore
aug 20, 2025, 9:07 pm • 3 0 • view
aug 20, 2025, 7:42 pm • 0 0 • view
Well, those people have zero imagination and I feel sorry for them.
aug 21, 2025, 12:36 am • 0 0 • view
Doom scrolling takes time, attention, and energy away from good reading.
aug 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
Well count me as one of those weird reading types
aug 20, 2025, 6:40 pm • 9 0 • view
Well yeah, you told us that if every waking moment of our lives isn't spent making money for billionaires, we deserve to starve and die. Who has time to read?
aug 20, 2025, 10:45 pm • 0 0 • view
Hmm 🤔 what happened during that time
aug 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 2 0 • view
Short list: gross incompetence leaves nation open to terrorism, lies lead to a war of revenge against the wrong people, gutted regulations produces economic collapse, then 8 years of thoughtful rebuilding before a moron tries to undo it, his coup fails, 4 yrs rebuilding, moron redux...who has time?
aug 20, 2025, 6:04 pm • 2 1 • view
Haven’t read for ‘fun’ since I was 5 or 6. Since then, in no particular order: • Escape • Information • ‘Enlightenment’ • Because some teacher told me to
aug 20, 2025, 6:02 pm • 0 0 • view
Most worrying is this statistic includes banned books (obvs). A huge loss for all of us.
aug 20, 2025, 11:43 pm • 0 0 • view
Maybe if they actually had something fun to read… www.stonepulp.com
aug 20, 2025, 11:22 pm • 0 0 • view
Can you imagine being the guy whose Public Transit Literary Rizz was so strong that it impressed a NYT photographer?
aug 21, 2025, 8:53 pm • 0 0 • view
I started a book club in NYC for ~30-40 y/o dudes that enjoy good nonfiction and good pubs Have roughly 10 dudes in the mix: a teacher, a lawyer, a veteran, a few tech guys, an Irishman, hell, even have a guy that works at the NY Times It's been a highlight of 2025!
aug 21, 2025, 12:21 pm • 0 0 • view
54% of US adults read below a 6th grade literacy level. Idiocracy is a documentary.
aug 20, 2025, 5:56 pm • 22 2 • view
Also, people can't read much in the way of anything else.
aug 20, 2025, 5:51 pm • 3 0 • view
Hey everybody read a book grow your mind. Don't limit yourself to what you see in your life. Imagine what is out there and read about it.
aug 20, 2025, 7:01 pm • 0 1 • view
Fewer People Are Reading for Fun, Study Finds f the nyt gift link
aug 20, 2025, 8:49 pm • 2 0 • view
📌
aug 21, 2025, 6:30 am • 0 0 • view
или сам Эклог "ФК" или что то от того века надо
aug 20, 2025, 6:40 pm • 0 0 • view
Гомер, сын Иафета, который упоминается в библейской таблице народов (Бытие 10:2–5). Уильям Камден в книге «Британия» (1586) писал, что Гомер дал начало имени гомерийцев, которые впоследствии стали называться кимврами и киммерийцами. Камден считал, что бритты являются потомками Гомера. И т.д.
aug 20, 2025, 6:39 pm • 0 0 • view
arzamas.academy/materials/87
aug 20, 2025, 6:35 pm • 0 0 • view
Как бы слово путали. Эклог некролог.. сократить? Сократ? что вся Греция захвачена Москвой. вот и Р.И.П.
aug 20, 2025, 6:29 pm • 0 0 • view
и фильмы .. в Токио что то было.. а не сериал.. В последние годы короткие видео в соцсетях стали настоящим феноменом. 2 минуты ..
aug 20, 2025, 6:18 pm • 0 0 • view
Реформа д.б. как сократиться все это литературное историческое наследие. и новые виды творчества.
aug 20, 2025, 6:11 pm • 0 0 • view
Для РФК мл. Точно экология? Или слили отцов и в ответ ничего не знаем? За это жить оставили? или это? " эклога — стихотворение или пассаж, отрывок, отобранный из большей подборки или труда. Во множественном числе это слово использовалось для обозначения каких-либо коротких стихов. "
aug 20, 2025, 6:06 pm • 0 0 • view
I just struggle to find the time
aug 20, 2025, 5:53 pm • 0 0 • view
AI is making things worse. In a professional setting no one reads long documents anymore, they just get an LLM to summarise it for them, so reading comprehension and writing (without AI) is getting worse.
aug 21, 2025, 6:25 am • 1 0 • view
Reverting to peasants one day at a time.
aug 20, 2025, 5:59 pm • 0 0 • view
I haven’t read a novel since before the 2016 election and I’m a LIBRARIAN! My reading time is completely wrapped up in non-fiction: economics and politics and social science because I fear for the future of my country.
aug 20, 2025, 6:07 pm • 16 0 • view
I was about to point out that lots of people read nonfiction for pleasure, but then I started to wonder what kind of decline "experiencing pleasure" in general has seen since 2003?
aug 21, 2025, 8:55 pm • 0 0 • view
You should read Ministry for the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson beacuse it covers economics, climate science, sociology etc in fiction and also comes out kinds of utopian.
aug 20, 2025, 9:41 pm • 10 1 • view
The author did his research. Many of the solutions peppered throughout the book are based on case studies and conservation efforts underway.
aug 21, 2025, 12:15 am • 3 0 • view
They've all started reading for pain instead
aug 20, 2025, 6:50 pm • 0 0 • view
Is the picture of the dude reading a Confederacy of Dunces staged or real? I am honestly floored by the fact that it might be real probably because I never got around to finishing it ☠️
aug 20, 2025, 8:04 pm • 0 0 • view
That’s a great book he’s reading in the stock photo
aug 20, 2025, 6:56 pm • 0 0 • view
It’s hard to find books in a library that meet MAGA standards of cultural worthiness
aug 20, 2025, 5:51 pm • 3 0 • view
I think I'm making up for the others
aug 20, 2025, 9:08 pm • 0 0 • view
Is that an AI generated picture of someone reading a book in the subway?
aug 20, 2025, 9:38 pm • 0 0 • view
Me no read no more. Like stupid- #Trump and #MAGA
aug 20, 2025, 5:51 pm • 6 0 • view
me 2 like U Reading makes your head hurt, new ideas, thoughts... better just suck up Pox Spews.
aug 20, 2025, 5:56 pm • 0 0 • view
I do find reading the NYT less fun than I used to, so I’m reading more books.
aug 20, 2025, 7:10 pm • 3 0 • view
I’ve read 50 books thus far this year for pleasure. I also read a lot of technical stuff for work and personal growth too.
aug 20, 2025, 8:09 pm • 0 0 • view
Well this is my motto: 📖📚 #ReadBooks #ExpandYourMind #EscapeBS #Bookworm #EndlessTBRList #BookBlogger #BookSky
aug 20, 2025, 7:53 pm • 0 0 • view
bsky.app/profile/torr...
aug 20, 2025, 7:32 pm • 4 0 • view
Book bans probably have a lot to do with these numbers in recent years :(
aug 20, 2025, 11:00 pm • 3 0 • view
Most people are likely too busy working to survive in guessing.
aug 20, 2025, 8:28 pm • 0 0 • view
📌
aug 20, 2025, 5:52 pm • 0 0 • view
Could be that’s because people aren’t buying MALINKO, a thriller about a newlywed couple on a Route 66 honeymoon who stumble onto a mysterious radio show. $25. Venmo: Rick-Paulas, include address.
aug 20, 2025, 7:01 pm • 3 0 • view
The dumbing-down of America. #Epstein #EpsteinFiles #EpsteinList
aug 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 0 0 • view
In other news, a steady decline in approval ratings for Trump's Epstein coverup has done nothing to reverse the steady decline in Epstein coverage at @nytimes.com
aug 20, 2025, 5:54 pm • 2 0 • view
Where's the data set? This report, and every other one out there, gives us the results but no links to the data. Did ANYONE provide the methodology or study parameters? Why is there no way to go over the data?
aug 21, 2025, 1:33 pm • 0 0 • view
but audiobooks are booming
aug 20, 2025, 5:58 pm • 4 0 • view
The study *counted* audio as “reading”: bsky.app/profile/torr...
aug 20, 2025, 7:34 pm • 10 0 • view
Damn that's dark
aug 20, 2025, 9:34 pm • 2 0 • view
Most people are poor. Poor cannot afford to buy subscription to read daily articles. Most poor do not get free news. KPBS no longer funded by public sources. Trump removed free press by gutted budget.
aug 20, 2025, 6:21 pm • 0 0 • view
A lot of people will blame smart phones, and I’m sure they’ve played a part. But I blame school. In school, we were often forced to read books we didn’t care for, or we’d fail. No options or curiosity. I can almost guarantee that more people would read willingly if more options were presented
aug 20, 2025, 8:59 pm • 6 2 • view
Now don’t take that as “schools suck.” I don’t mean that. I’m suggesting there has to be a better way to spark curiosity in books. In 8th grade I was forced to either read The Hobbit, or Fahrenheit 451. I chose the Hobbit because genre preference, but I hated it. The dread of memorizing for a test-
aug 20, 2025, 8:59 pm • 3 0 • view
I mean, school does suck. we need to redo it from the ground up
aug 21, 2025, 9:21 am • 2 0 • view
First and foremost I feel that, on the subject at hand, schools should be more focusd on helping student to CARE, not just retain. If a school can't get kids to Value the actual lessons, and has to issue threats and punishments to get them to "learn", then said school is already screwing up.
aug 21, 2025, 9:50 am • 2 0 • view
- killed any enjoyment of it. Fast forward to 2015 where I got curious about the book, and read it again. I loved every second of it. If I was naturally curious as a kid, I’m sure I would have loved it then too. But the simple fact I was forced to read it, and would be tested made the experience bad
aug 20, 2025, 8:59 pm • 3 0 • view
I am! I have a huge long list of books to read which I purchase used from Thriftbooks.com instead of amazon. I'm currently reading The Overstory by Richard Powers. Have you read it?
aug 20, 2025, 7:02 pm • 0 0 • view
📚💙
aug 20, 2025, 7:50 pm • 0 0 • view
I changed this pattern few days ago. I visited half-price books and I'm updating two library cards.There is something about reading, looking forward to immersion into another world, learning something new or about another person's life that satisfies my spirit.
aug 20, 2025, 6:15 pm • 5 1 • view
😒
aug 20, 2025, 6:12 pm • 0 0 • view
A lot of people are going to put this down to ‘those damn phones’ but it would be foolish to not account for the fact that people are way more time poor than they used to be due to economic pressures and reading takes a lot more mental energy than passively watching a screen.
aug 20, 2025, 11:49 pm • 13 2 • view
this is why I don't read as much as I'd like.
aug 21, 2025, 9:20 am • 2 0 • view
Same. Used to read 50-75 books per year. I'm lucky to get to 12 now
aug 21, 2025, 11:15 pm • 1 0 • view