Literacy is declining sharply across the West, with leisure reading falling by 40% over the last two decades according to the American Time Use survey. In a discussion on the podcast 'Interesting Times', James Marriott, author of 'The New Dark Ages', argues that despite being surrounded by text, society is becoming postliterate—losing the ability to engage with long-form reading and the democratic deliberation it supports. He explains that 'postliterate' does not mean illiterate, but rather a diminished proficiency and comfort with interpreting extended text, including books and magazines.
Similar trends are seen in the U.K., where a third of adults report giving up reading for pleasure, a figure likely understated due to social desirability bias. The O. E.
C. D. reported in late 2024 that literacy is declining or stagnating in most developed nations. Marriott warns that this shift toward oral, fragmented digital consumption threatens self-governance and draws parallels to medieval information storage, urging a reevaluation of how we preserve knowledge in the digital age.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing