Dr JT Welsch (University of York)
I keep reading that reading is a dying pastime. Every day, a new study shames our shrinking attention spans, or a professor moans that students can’t finish whole books. On the train or bus, other passengers swipe short clips, doom scroll the news, or jab at an addictive game. For a moment, I feel smug with my paperback. Then a Substack notification says we’re living in a ‘post-literate society [open.substack.com]’, and I can’t help but click.
If you’re reading this on your phone, you’ll know this absurd loop. ‘Death-of-reading’ content is perhaps the purest form of a broad online genre that ironically implores us to get off the internet and do something better with our lives. Of course, the algorithm knows these posts just make us feel bad and come crawling back.
But like most clickbait, these rants rest on a false opposition. There’s no real war between print and digital media. In many ways, Goodreads, BookTok, and Instagram book clubs have revitalised reading culture, connecting readers worldwide and driving record sales of fiction and nonfiction in recent years. Reading has always been social, and online platforms now foster genuine community around under-the-radar debuts, rediscovered classics, and emerging genres.
Pessimistic articles about reading might offer a brief hit of superiority, and they’re not entirely wrong about the need to switch off sometimes. You don’t need to be on a plane to use plane mode. But instead of rage-sharing or tutting my way through another grim piece on reading habits, I’m trying to remember that posting about a good recent book can lead to positive online connections, which sustain, and even deepen, our reading.
