Through an article in the Financial Times, I came across this new study. It’s about something I spent plenty of time on this past summer, but that fewer and fewer people seem to do: reading for pleasure is no longer a given. This new American study (Bone et al., 2025) confirms what we’ve long suspected: fewer people pick up a book, newspaper, or magazine on an average day. In 2004, 28 per cent still did so; today, only 16 per cent.

What I found striking — and surprising — is that those who still read, actually read more than before. On average, an hour and a half a day. That creates a sharp divide: a shrinking group of intensive readers, and a growing majority who have given up altogether. It’s almost a textbook case of the Matthew effect: those who read build cultural and social capital (language, knowledge, empathy), while those who don’t fall further behind.

The differences between groups are large and growing. People with higher incomes and degrees read much more, while the gap with people in poverty or with less education is widening. This makes it not just a cultural trend, but also a social issue.

Still, the story isn’t entirely bleak. In the UK, book sales are up and chains like Waterstones are even opening new shops. The industry remains healthy thanks to a loyal core of readers. But that’s the paradox: there’s still a thriving market, while the actual reading base is shrinking.

What shocked me most: in the American data, only 2 per cent of adults read with children on an average day. And yet we know that being read to is one of the strongest predictors of later reading ability and reading pleasure. If that chain is broken, we shouldn’t be surprised that the number of adult readers collapses.

So what can we do? Invest in school libraries, as the UK government has promised. Make books more affordable, as Denmark did by scrapping VAT. But more importantly, make reading appealing again in a world where scrolling and swiping have become the norm. Perhaps we should stop pretending that reading must always be “useful,” and instead bring back the magic of stories.

And somehow, I remain cautiously optimistic. I see young people pushing back against the superficiality of TikTok and rediscovering books. Whether that will turn into a wave or just a ripple, we don’t know yet. But those who do find their way back will discover a richness no social media feed can ever match.