READING: When was the last time you read a book? 

Several studies say the dominance of digital media, along with shorter attention spans and increased competition for a person’s leisure time, have led to a drop in reading rates — a 40% drop over the last two decades.

The National Endowment for the Arts stated, “Daily leisure reading among U.S. adults has dropped by 40% over the past two decades, with only 16% of adults reading for pleasure on a typical day in 2023, down from 28% in 2004. While roughly 48.5% of adults reported reading at least one book in 2022, consistent daily reading for enjoyment is in a sustained, long-term decline.”

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ American Time Use Survey “also suggests a longer-term pattern. On any given day from 2017 to 2023, the amount of time that Americans aged 15 and older spent reading anything “for personal interest” was roughly 15-16 minutes. Yet, for each year from 2013 to 2015, that amount had exceeded 19 minutes, before slipping to about 17 minutes in 2016. Over the entire measurement span (from 2013 to 2023), by contrast, Americans spent between 2:40 and 2:51 hours watching TV on any given day.”

We all know someone who would say “I haven’t read a book since high school.”

Consistent reading is said to improve memory, brain function and vocabulary —  knowledge, too.

There was a contestant on a reality television show recently who thought Gypsy Rose Blanchard — the young woman who conspired to murder her mother — was a Supreme Court Justice, confusing her for the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. We’re thinking a bit of reading might be called for in that case.