Deep read: Post-literate America
Axios reports:
"Americans, once members of a proudly literate society, read much less than they used to," The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch writes in the magazine's August cover story:
"The decline in reading cuts across age groups, gender, and education levels. Even the demographics that traditionally read the most — retirees, women, and college graduates — have seen a collapse."
🧮 By the numbers: Fewer than half of U.S. adults read a book of any kind in 2022, according to a National Endowment for the Arts survey — the most comprehensive look at the nation's reading habits.
The share of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023, according to the American Time Use Survey.
Gambling is now more common than reading a book: 57% of Americans placed a bet last year.
The bottom line: "The decline of reading will bring about changes of the same magnitude. It will affect our innermost thoughts, our society's politics and culture, and how we tell the history of our civilization."
My comments:
Proof that the “Dumbing down of Americans” that the Republicans have been fostering on us is apparently working at least on their party’s base.
Need an example beyond Demented Donnie’s inability to read? How about his appointment of incompetent Linda McMahon as his Secretary of Education…
"Americans, once members of a proudly literate society, read much less than they used to," The Atlantic's Rose Horowitch writes in the magazine's August cover story:
"The decline in reading cuts across age groups, gender, and education levels. Even the demographics that traditionally read the most — retirees, women, and college graduates — have seen a collapse."
🧮 By the numbers: Fewer than half of U.S. adults read a book of any kind in 2022, according to a National Endowment for the Arts survey — the most comprehensive look at the nation's reading habits.
The share of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28% in 2004 to 16% in 2023, according to the American Time Use Survey.
Gambling is now more common than reading a book: 57% of Americans placed a bet last year.
The bottom line: "The decline of reading will bring about changes of the same magnitude. It will affect our innermost thoughts, our society's politics and culture, and how we tell the history of our civilization."
My comments:
Proof that the “Dumbing down of Americans” that the Republicans have been fostering on us is apparently working at least on their party’s base.
Need an example beyond Demented Donnie’s inability to read? How about his appointment of incompetent Linda McMahon as his Secretary of Education…
