00:00It doesn't matter what you like to read, a thick history book, a cozy romance novel,
00:07a heavy business read, or classic literature.
00:11Whatever you read is good for you.
00:13Yet a crisis of reading is brewing, and it is happening globally.
00:17Fewer people are reading for pleasure.
00:19Take the U.S., for instance.
00:20A new report is out there.
00:21It says that over the past two decades, reading for pleasure has plummeted by 40%.
00:26It has declined by about 3% each year, year after year.
00:33And this is based on a study by the University College London and the University of Florida.
00:38But this is not an isolated case.
00:40Look at the U.K.
00:42Reading levels among children are at their lowest in two decades.
00:45Fewer than one in three read regularly.
00:48In Australia, 76% children aged between 5 and 8 read for pleasure.
00:53This is a good number, but it drops dramatically as they grow older.
00:58Meanwhile, here in India, only about 37% children read for pleasure.
01:01And in Denmark, reading has fallen to such lows that the government is panicking.
01:07They want to remove the sales tax on books.
01:10And these are just some of the many cases, many examples.
01:13Reading levels are painfully low the world over.
01:17And this is thanks to a perfect storm of problems.
01:20Broadly, two of them.
01:22Shrinking attention spans and falling literacy levels.
01:25In this digital age, we are all well acquainted with the first problem.
01:30AI has arrived.
01:31It is churning out summaries, analyzing entire books and writing essays.
01:35So even compulsory reading has gone for a toss.
01:38Need to read a novel for class?
01:40Why bother?
01:40Just skim through the AI-generated summary.
01:42And then there's social media, with its easy clicks, gripping sounds, trends, endless videos and instant gratification.
01:50Doom scrolling is taking over and in most cases, winning the fight to hold our attention.
01:57The second big problem is disparity.
01:59Reading for pleasure, whether we realize or not, is a privilege.
02:03A lot of factors play into it, like economic pressures or caregiving duties.
02:07For instance, in the US, high-income people read one and a half times more than low-income people.
02:13And even if people want to read, many struggle to do it.
02:17Primary school enrollment is at a high level globally.
02:20Yet, about 60% students in middle and low-income countries are unable to read a simple story.
02:26According to the United Nations, if this persists by 2030, 37% children will not have basic reading skills.
02:34So, a lot of factors are fueling the reading crisis.
02:39Some in our hands, and some not.
02:43But escaping the reading slump is a fight worth fighting.
02:47The justifications are endless.
02:49Good reading ability gets you good grades.
02:53Better employment, more opportunities.
02:55And it's easy to see why.
02:57Stacks of research show that reading is like a workout for the brain.
03:00It improves reasoning, comprehension skills, imagination, concentration, critical thinking.
03:06It even makes you more empathetic, more patient.
03:10It slows cognitive decline.
03:12It makes you happier.
03:13And it can even make you live longer, believe it or not.
03:17And this is exactly why things must change.
03:19We need governments to do better.
03:21We need structural changes that boost the education system,
03:24that address teacher shortages,
03:26and make reading more accessible.
03:28In some countries, this could mean more libraries or online resources.
03:33In others, it could mean making reading cool again with literary festivals or workshops.
03:38And we have to do better as individuals.
03:41We have to get back in the groove,
03:43whether that means reading alone, reading aloud, reading with friends,
03:46finding a community or starting with audiobooks, whatever works for you.
03:49But whatever we do, we have to read with intention,
03:54almost as if we are trying to forge a new friendship,
03:57to find our way back to an old one.
04:01After all, what are books, if not our companions,
04:06offering us both solace and a deep connection?
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