In the year 2025, I read 73 books, a grand total of 23,453 pages. It is, admittedly, something I am quite proud of.
Despite this pride, I have found that it is incredibly difficult to talk about reading, or at least reading as much as I do, without coming off as pretentious, obnoxious or performative. Not, in my opinion, because reading this much inherently makes you these things, but because people simply don’t read anymore.
That is not a matter of opinion, but a fact of the American population. In 2025, 40% of Americans had not read a single book, while an additional 27% read only four books or less, according to a Dec. 2025 YouGov poll.
This is just four years after a Dec. 2021 Gallup poll found that only 17% of Americans had read zero books over the course of the year, and the median amount was five books per person. These results showcase how quickly reading rates have declined amongst the American population.
I have always been a very avid reader. In elementary school, I brought copies of my favorite fantasy series with me to standardized testing week, zooming through the tests so I could use the time to read. I even skipped classes in middle and high school to read new books.
Then I came to college and fell into the TikTok doomscrolling and TV-bingewatching sinkhole. By the time I finished classes, homework, extracurriculars and got home, I was exhausted, and my phone or laptop provided me with an easy form of entertainment.
In my first two and a half years of college, I was reading four or five books a year not including books required for class, a far cry from the amount I’d been reading for almost my entire life.
By the time I got to the second semester of my junior year, I had grown incredibly sick of this pattern. Lying on my couch or in bed watching episode after episode of shows that all blurred together left me feeling empty and unfulfilled.
I missed reading. I missed the feeling of being up late at night telling myself, ‘one more chapter and then I’ll go to bed’ until suddenly it was 3 a.m.
As a writer, I admittedly have a personal stake in people reading. But, more importantly, we are facing an illiteracy crisis in the United States: 45 million American adults, or 21% of the population, are functionally illiterate, meaning they read at or below a fifth-grade level according to the American Literacy Institute.
We are in an era where fake news runs rampant across social media platforms. AI-generated videos are almost impossible to discern from real life and bad actors in both the public and private sectors are relying on people being content with a life of entertainment monopolies and existing in ignorance.
Or, to use an old phrase: Bread and circuses.
Due to this, I believe it has never been more important to not just limit your exposure to the damage that social and digital media causes, but be able to read and be able to read well.
And reading is a muscle. Even if you start small, the more you work it, the stronger it becomes.
So if you want to get into or back into the habit of reading often, I have a couple pieces of advice.
What worked to get me back in the habit of regular reading might not work for everyone, but I nevertheless believe it’s crucial that people make an effort to read more.
1: Read what you enjoy. This may sound silly at first but I know too many people who haven’t read recreationally in forever and try to get back into reading with “The Odyssey,” “Anna Karenina” or just any book they found on a Penguin Classics “must read” list.
Look, the classics are classics for a reason. They’re brilliant and have important messages, but they are also dense and can be quite dull at times. Furthermore, it requires conscious effort to read and understand them properly. It’s easy to get bored and discouraged trying to get through one, especially if you haven’t read in a while.
There is nothing wrong with reading a fun fantasy, romance or mystery novel. Many of these books also have important messages or pertinent subtext. First, get into the habit of reading, then start working through your book bucket list.
2: This one might be controversial, but make reading social. Reading is by nature a solitary activity, and in the social media age, many can find that unattractive. Download Goodreads and add your friends, classmates, coworkers and even your crushes.
Build a reading community. See what your friends are reading and get ideas. There’s a reason book clubs have existed for hundreds of years. It gives you a little encouragement to keep reading, as no one wants to be seen as worse at something than their peers.
3: Be consistent. Don’t just read one book and then binge-watch a show with seven seasons. Create a rhythm. Honestly, it may feel like a chore at first. Reading does take more time and energy than many other forms of entertainment, but once you get into the habit, it’s hard to stop.
During the last five days of winter break, I decided to pause my reading to watch a bunch of television, and, to be completely honest, I felt so beyond gross afterwords that I couldn’t wait to pick up a book again.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m sick of the bread and circuses.
So just force yourself to read. Reading is so important, and book after book it only gets easier and honestly, addicting.
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