Further, reading on tablets, computers, or smartphones was not explicitly included in examples, making it unclear whether this behavior would have been classified as reading for personal interest or technology use.
I would like to cast doubt on the findings if they don't include phones.
aprilthird2021 · 2m ago
It shouldn't count. That is distracted reading, imo.
leethomas · 1h ago
> The paper also noted that although reading with children is rare, it has not changed much over time.
This part really got to me, reading to one's children is rare? That's so sad. My toddler loves reading with me.
0xcafefood · 1h ago
It jumped out at me too. Are people not reading to their kids?!
radicaldreamer · 34m ago
They're playing videos for them on an iPad or phone
bokchoi · 15m ago
I still read with my 5th graders every night. It's a nice time to connect with them and wind down before sleep.
makeitdouble · 59m ago
I'd assume reading _with_ children and reading _to_ children are differentiated ?
amanaplanacanal · 44m ago
They define it as "reading to or with household or non-household children, listening to child read, helping child read"
shusaku · 14m ago
Maybe I am misunderstanding the study but I don’t understand why reading a magazine or newspaper is counted while reading an article on one’s phone is not.
daedrdev · 9m ago
I think more interesting is reading a book on a phone doesn't seem to count, which his the main way I read.
Further, reading on tablets, computers, or smartphones was not explicitly included in examples, making it unclear whether this behavior would have been classified as reading for personal interest or technology use.
joe_the_user · 4m ago
The text you have there isn't actually in the text. The word tablet isn't in the text (unless the linked-text was changed, which HN does sometimes and is annoying).
joe_the_user · 7m ago
You in fact are misunderstanding the article, reading on an electronic device is included reading for pleasure - it is one of the three categories listed parenthetically as that.
Quote: The study focused on two activities: reading for pleasure (reading a book, newspaper, magazine, reading on electronic devices and listening to audiobooks) and reading with children.
oliwary · 1h ago
I find that when I start reading a book that I enjoy, it is easily the most gripping form of entertainment, and I can barely put the book down. But, it also takes more effort to get started, so I rarely get into that zone and end up scrolling my phone instead.
kylecazar · 21m ago
It's true for me too. I read fiction for leisure infrequently, but when I do, I'm in the zone if it's good.
asdff · 29m ago
It makes sense. Flashing colors and noise and people making dramatic expressions is deeply satisfying to the monkey brain versus boring text and abstracted thinking.
Swizec · 29m ago
Question: How much is this impacted by people who read for pleasure but fool themselves into thinking it's useful?
Many books are closer to edutainment than practical applicable advice. To a certain type of person these are easier to read (spend time on) than reading purely fiction. And even then it's easy to say you only read fiction that is totally giving you something more insightful than entertainment.
See also many YouTube/Instagram/TiKTok channels and most if not all Substack (et al) newsletters. Yes of course deep diving into <niche subject> at 2am is super critical to my life!
ok123456 · 18m ago
Not many people read physics textbooks for fun.
If you peruse "booktok," the books these people are bragging about reading are barely a step up from the supermarket romance novels that people used to make fun of. (Remember Fabio?)
Making a big deal about reading for the sake of reading is a sign and signifier of having virtuous consumption patterns.
koakuma-chan · 10m ago
I prefer to read hybrid when possible, e.g. Reverend Insanity
falcor84 · 1h ago
I think that at least to some extent, the stranger-than-fiction reality we're living through is a strong substitute for the novelty we used to seek in books.
lisbbb · 9m ago
I went in a Barnes & Noble recently and was underwhelmed by the sheer amount of vapid crap masquerading as literature these days. I'm pretty sure if people are avoiding most of that crap that it's a good thing not a bad thing.
drak0n1c · 2m ago
Publishers, and their choices of what authors and stories to promote and which to ignore are just as to blame as readers for narrowing and filtering the book reading public.
kleiba · 1h ago
Maybe it's because of applying too narrow a definition of what contents should count as "for pleasure reading": books, magazines... but what about blog posts, social media? Certainly, that's something people read for personal pleasure?!
ospray · 32m ago
Also does it account for audiobooks, I love a good novel but after all day on screens at work my eye can't take physically reading a book.
crooked-v · 1h ago
It looks like they didn't include podcasts. Given the rise of various podcasts that are basically serialized audiobooks, I have to wonder what the numbers would be like including them.
renjimen · 45m ago
One of their primary motivations was understanding changes in literacy, so it makes sense they wouldn't include audiobooks (or podcasts).
ascorbic · 37m ago
They do include audiobooks
renjimen · 18m ago
Ah, I misunderstood the parent then :)
Seems unintuitive to include audiobooks if they're interested in literacy though (literally their first motivation).
b_e_n_t_o_n · 1h ago
Makes sense. Since I started reading the classics I'm basically reading for suffering now.
nicbou · 1h ago
In the last 20 years. It's not surprising given all the new forms of entertainment we have.
renjimen · 38m ago
There's a large difference between reading a book and reading social media posts or news articles: books require hours of concentration to consume, have long-spanning arcs of plot or other structure, and require significant use of our imagination (particularly fiction). You just don't get those three things from any other form of written media.
makeitdouble · 1h ago
> reading for pleasure (reading a book, newspaper, magazine, reading on electronic devices and listening to audiobooks)
Given the social media engagement numbers, for better or worse that would be enough to put us at peak reading. Is it fun ? nobody's setting on gun on people's head so it would still fit the article's définition IMHO.
This reminds me of articles lamenting people's attention span because they don't watch the endless spinoffs of Lord of the Ring, and play Zelda instead.
0xcafefood · 58m ago
Social media seems to be moving to images and now even (ultra) short-form video content. Does a hypothetic 40% increase in social media engagement offset a 40% decline in reading in any meaningful way?
makeitdouble · 45s ago
There is the fundamental question of how much that number matters (if someone spends more time fly fishing than reading fanfics, should it be "fixed" ?).
But even setting that aside, while YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are the mainstream, Threads and Bluesky came up as new platforms and are text first. They could have let the Twitter paradigm die but chose to heavily invest in that market instead, and it seems to be working, so at least the idea still has legs ?
Interestingly, with current LLM limitations I'd assume text in - text out usage will keep being the focus for a while as well.
sorrythanks · 26m ago
that's interesting because Barnes & Noble and Waterstones are opening more stores because buying books is up
philwelch · 23m ago
Just like gym memberships and Steam games, many people buy more books than they actually read.
hodgesrm · 1h ago
I just read "Slow Horses" by Mike Herron. It's easily as good as the show on Apple TV and was lots of fun to read. I can't imagine anything more entertaining.
moose333 · 49m ago
I found that book to be such a slough (pun very much intended) to get through. Maybe the British humo(u)r just didn't land for me? I had the same problem with Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe
No comments yet
cjoelrun · 1h ago
It's got a lot of competition.
RyanOD · 1h ago
I flew from Detroit to Seattle last night. I used that time to read 170 pages of Crazy for the Storm by Norman Ollestad (easy, entertaining read).
Though I obviously didn't walk the entire plane, looking around from my seat / when walking to the restroom, everyone I saw was watching a movie.
jmcphers · 42m ago
I read for pleasure every day and watch very few movies, but on an airplane I often wind up watching a movie. I think it's because it helps distract my senses from the grubby discomfort of modern air travel (people packed in tightly, loud jet engines, etc.), and because in my everyday life I'm always obligated to consider others' preferences for a film -- the airplane is one of the only places I can watch something I'd actually choose for myself.
brightball · 54m ago
I enjoy reading for pleasure.
On a plane that has a screen, I almost intentionally find something there to watch instead. I don't know why but for some reason I just have very little desire to read on planes when the screen is an option.
lovich · 28m ago
I’ve found my own reading for pleasure has dropped a lot the past year as well and it’s almost entirely due to AI.
Most(easily 90%) of my reading came in the form of serialized novels that are published chapter by chapter in various forums. They’ve all been swamped with AI content that’s good enough to not be immediately obvious but then becomes a waste of time after a few paragraphs.
And it’s just a firehose of this kind of content. I can’t tell if the actual human made content is down because people are tired of the competition or if there really is that much bot activity that the human activity is being watered down to single digit percentages
ryoshoe · 1m ago
It's genuinely sad how the golden-age of web-serials seems to now be behind us. One of my favorite things is how the format allows the community to stay engaged with the story in a way that doesn't really happen when an author releases a completed novel
zem · 24m ago
it sounds like there's a need for a blog or forum where people discuss and recommend these series, so the actual human ones can stand out.
winrid · 27m ago
People are overworked, and the time they do have is taken by phones.
Havoc · 33m ago
Was absolutely horrified when books read per year came up in a discussion and I realized answer was maybe one.
That was in a discussion with my parents no less...who raised me in a household that had an unspoken "we'll pay for it if you finish the book" rule so book culture was definitely there.
Worst part is my book acquisition strategy has been on point. I have good books. Amazon daily sales are 95% crap...5% daily not crap monitored daily over years = library of respectable books.
idk...as I said horrified is the word that comes to mind. I genuinely don't get how this snuck up on me like that
dlenski · 1h ago
Just read this article.
It was fun.
j45 · 42m ago
While mindless scrolling may have replaced some of that, intentional reading is way more rewarding.
It's pretty astounding what reading to kids every day can do for them regardless of the environment they grow up in.
Hikikomori · 56m ago
US about to need a lot of low skilled workers so its okay I guess?
This part really got to me, reading to one's children is rare? That's so sad. My toddler loves reading with me.
Quote: The study focused on two activities: reading for pleasure (reading a book, newspaper, magazine, reading on electronic devices and listening to audiobooks) and reading with children.
Many books are closer to edutainment than practical applicable advice. To a certain type of person these are easier to read (spend time on) than reading purely fiction. And even then it's easy to say you only read fiction that is totally giving you something more insightful than entertainment.
See also many YouTube/Instagram/TiKTok channels and most if not all Substack (et al) newsletters. Yes of course deep diving into <niche subject> at 2am is super critical to my life!
If you peruse "booktok," the books these people are bragging about reading are barely a step up from the supermarket romance novels that people used to make fun of. (Remember Fabio?)
Making a big deal about reading for the sake of reading is a sign and signifier of having virtuous consumption patterns.
Seems unintuitive to include audiobooks if they're interested in literacy though (literally their first motivation).
Given the social media engagement numbers, for better or worse that would be enough to put us at peak reading. Is it fun ? nobody's setting on gun on people's head so it would still fit the article's définition IMHO.
This reminds me of articles lamenting people's attention span because they don't watch the endless spinoffs of Lord of the Ring, and play Zelda instead.
But even setting that aside, while YouTube, TikTok and Instagram are the mainstream, Threads and Bluesky came up as new platforms and are text first. They could have let the Twitter paradigm die but chose to heavily invest in that market instead, and it seems to be working, so at least the idea still has legs ?
Interestingly, with current LLM limitations I'd assume text in - text out usage will keep being the focus for a while as well.
No comments yet
Though I obviously didn't walk the entire plane, looking around from my seat / when walking to the restroom, everyone I saw was watching a movie.
On a plane that has a screen, I almost intentionally find something there to watch instead. I don't know why but for some reason I just have very little desire to read on planes when the screen is an option.
Most(easily 90%) of my reading came in the form of serialized novels that are published chapter by chapter in various forums. They’ve all been swamped with AI content that’s good enough to not be immediately obvious but then becomes a waste of time after a few paragraphs.
And it’s just a firehose of this kind of content. I can’t tell if the actual human made content is down because people are tired of the competition or if there really is that much bot activity that the human activity is being watered down to single digit percentages
That was in a discussion with my parents no less...who raised me in a household that had an unspoken "we'll pay for it if you finish the book" rule so book culture was definitely there.
Worst part is my book acquisition strategy has been on point. I have good books. Amazon daily sales are 95% crap...5% daily not crap monitored daily over years = library of respectable books.
idk...as I said horrified is the word that comes to mind. I genuinely don't get how this snuck up on me like that
It was fun.
It's pretty astounding what reading to kids every day can do for them regardless of the environment they grow up in.