Why Don't Children Read Anymore?
This article was written by one of our Young Reporters, a scheme that gives 14 to 18-year-old school students a chance to write for a real newspaper. Find out more at the Young Reporter website.
Enjoyment in reading for young people is at an all time low, but what could be the cause for this? Are children and young people preoccupied with other things? Have their attention spans shortened, their attitudes changed? Why do most young people prefer watching YouTube or Netflix over reading a book?
Statistics from the National Literacy Trust show that there has been a 36% decrease in children who claim to enjoy reading in their free time since 2005.
In a survey taken in 2025, it can be seen that only 1 in 3 children said that they enjoyed reading recreationally, which is seriously concerning teachers all over Britain.
Some people have even gone as far to describe the situation as a ‘literary crisis’, where children are growing up with less and less literary skills.
But why is this happening?
There are likely multiple factors that come together to make this happen; one of which could be the overstimulation that the younger generations are constantly subjected to.
Phones are constantly on and addictive, with platforms with short-form videos becoming increasingly popular over the last decade.
These short form videos take low effort; and make it easy to scroll for hours and hours, without looking at anything else, we find it easy to get sucked in and away from anything productive (like reading a book!)
When a young person does eventually pick up a book -whether for school or just to try something new- they get bored quickly because their attention span has gotten so much shorter, it takes a lot of willpower to focus on the words on the page.
Another factor, particularly prevalent with young preteens, can be the big move to secondary school.
Especially in years 7 and 8, there’s a huge pressure on children to fit in, and a lot of the time they'll be told that reading isn't cool, and even if they love it, they might read less and less, until they never find themselves reaching for a book anymore.
There are other reasons, such as uncertain futures leading to stress, along with high expectations and a lack of free time, particularly in teenagers, and often young people read less simply because they were never exposed to reading for enjoyment.
In times where children and young people have never read less, it is up to parents, teachers, and peers to help encourage them to get involved, rather than just staying on their phones, so that this crisis can ultimately be resolved.
