When I was younger, I was constantly engulfed in the pages of a book, lost in its plot, and tenderheartedly caring for the characters. I loved reading; it was a high that has since been limited by a busy schedule and endless scrolling. Over the years, I forgot the joy of reading, but recently, I have been learning to find it again. This decline in reading is not just something I have struggled with, but a problem across our nation. A study by the National Assessment of Educational Progress found that in 2012, 27% of 13-year-olds read for fun “almost every day,” while in 2023 that number had dropped to 14%.
When we lose pleasure reading, we lose so much more than just a good book; we lose empathy, mental health benefits, test scores, and comprehension abilities. Teenagers need to focus more of their time on reading for fun because the costs of not reading are simply too great.
Assistant Principal of Instruction and Faculty Development Dr. Diana Neebe has been recording data on reading amongst the SHP student population through the Authentic Connections Surveys. Last year, the AC surveys reported that only 42 students out of the entire SHP student body read 12 or more books in a year outside of school, which is 7%. Neebe put this into perspective of a typical adult book club: “The pace of most book clubs is a book a month.” 12 books isn’t some astronomically high number — it is four weeks for one book. Furthermore, 25% of students read no books outside of school, and 32% only read one to two books. With so few students reading outside of school, it is more important than ever to pick up a book.
Personal reading carries into the classroom and standardized testing. As SHP students gear up to take the SAT and ACT, reading can be an incredibly effective study tool. Neebe said, “You want to study for the SAT? Go read a book.” It’s a way to practice reading comprehension, expand your vocabulary, and gain practice with reading that is incredibly useful for standardized testing.
English teacher Ms. Stephanie Bowe Ullman said students who read for pleasure possess an “innate understanding” of the material, allowing them to grasp complex themes quickly during class. She continued, “I would say my top students are always students who read outside of class.”
Kate Kennish ‘28 said, “I don’t think there’s a better way to learn and understand how to write without reading.” Pleasure reading shapes students by showing them what strong writing looks like.
Further, the benefits of personal reading go far beyond the classroom; it can contribute to who we are and to our understanding of the world. Bowe Ullman said, “I would argue that the greater benefits are for developing as a whole human being and as a child of the Sacred Heart.” Leader of Library Club Anna Lee ‘27 said, “I think that reading is really important because it allows you to understand the world through different perspectives.” Allison Mu ‘27 echoed this, saying, “I love reading because there’s always a different perspective to be heard.” Reading is crucial in shaping well-rounded, compassionate people.
Librarian Ms. Sheila Chatterjee said that with the decline of reading, “there is a noticeable decline in the ability of students to develop empathy through reading.” A study by social psychologist Dr. Sara Konrath echoed this, finding a 40 percent decline in empathy among youth in the 2 decades before 2011. The study measured empathy using a self-report trait measure. While this decline in empathy can’t be tied directly to the decline in reading, pleasure reading can be a good way to combat the decline in empathy. Slow, immersive reading is directly tied to the development of empathy, something our generation increasingly lacks. Mu said, “reading really expands my worldview… I think in some ways it allows me to be more understanding of others and their experiences.”
Phones are undeniably a huge contribution to the decline in pleasure reading. The addictive nature of short-form content has been especially detrimental. Kennish said, “I also believe, especially today with social media and phones, that x”
It’s easy to fall down the hole of endless doom scrolling — procrastinating schoolwork, social lives, and extracurricular commitments — and waste time that could be spent getting enveloped in the pages of a book. Short-form content isn’t just taking away from pleasure reading time — it is detrimental to our brains. Our attention spans are declining in part due to short-form content and the evolution of smartphones. A Microsoft Corp. study showed our attention spans changed from 12 seconds in 2000, to 8 seconds in 2013. For reference, a goldfish has an attention span of 9 seconds, meaning our attention spans are, on average, shorter than a goldfish’s.
By contrast, reading is a unique way that allows us to engage in enjoyable content that helps improve cognitive function, including our attention spans. Reading activates executive functions in our brain that are responsible for decision-making and attention control, specifically comprehension, memory, and concentration. Over time, these neural connections strengthen, helping to improve focus and our ability to take in information. Furthermore, reading stimulates the release of dopamine and serotonin, which are neurotransmitters that increase both focus and mood.
Despite clear cognitive benefits, it can be difficult to separate the joy of a good book from the weight of a school assignment. It is so often assigned that even reading outside of school can feel like homework, a chore. The difference is that reading for pleasure means reading what you want to read. There is a world of all different forms and genres of books out there. Librarian Ms. Bekah Puddington said, “Let something catch your eye and follow your curiosity.” Reading for pleasure shouldn’t involve analyzing a book to write an essay on it, but reading a book because it is enjoyable. English teacher Dr. Maria Massucco said, “Reading is first and foremost supposed to be entertaining.”
Ultimately, becoming a reader is a personal commitment. Neebe said, “I see myself as a reader, and that means I have to spend time reading in the same way that, like I’m a mom, and that means I spend time with my children.” You must decide if you want to be someone who reads for fun and then make the changes to become that person.
Part of making the commitment is finding the time. While finding the time to read can be difficult, especially for high schoolers juggling multiple activities, the benefits of reading prove that it is something we need to make time for. Puddington said, “it doesn’t have to be an hour-long commitment every time.” Making time for reading requires flexibility. Oftentimes, when sitting around or waiting, our first instinct is to pick up our phones and begin scrolling. We need to have the impulse to pick up a book instead.
There are really easy ways to get into reading. It could be keeping a book in your backpack, shutting off your phone at night, picking up a book, or even setting aside 10 minutes a day to read. Reading also doesn’t have to be done through a paper novel; reading digitally, listening to audiobooks, or reading graphic novels all have the same benefits. What matters is that you are engaging with a continuous long-form text. When the medium is flexible, the practice becomes constant. Kennish said, “I try to read every time before I sleep or whenever I’m on a plane. Reading before bed has become an everyday habit, so it’s hard for me to sleep without it!”
When discussing ways for students to start personal reading, Puddington said, “people can come and talk to us.” The school library is a great resource for personal reading. For example, during the holidays, they make book bundles for students to read based on the books they like. By offering these starting points, the library provides an easy way back into the world of reading we often forget we can enter.
Reading outside of school is not an overly intellectual and complicated task; it’s a means of finding joy in a book that you are interested in, which comes with the benefits of improved empathy and understanding, better academics, and a way to combat the addictive nature of doom scrolling. Maybe the joy of reading isn’t something we outgrow and lose time for, but something we should choose to return to. The pages are still there, waiting to pull us in the way they once did. It’s up to us whether we take the chance to fall back into their allure.
