Why the World Is Reading Again
From Nigeria to Brazil, from India to Mexico, from Berlin to Florence, Manila to Seoul, foreign press worldwide testifies to a remarkable surge in reading during these turbulent times.
Over the last two decades, the way we live and communicate has changed quickly and profoundly. Many of us now spend a large part of each day on screens—for work, for socializing, for entertainment, for news. Most of what we read is short, fast, and constantly updating. We've adapted to multitasking, to always being reachable, to knowing what's happening almost everywhere, almost all the time.
We've gained access to more perspectives, more voices, and more information than ever before. But this speed and constant input also come with side effects. Many people say they feel more distracted. Some feel more mentally tired. Some miss having time to think more deeply, or notice that their attention feels harder to hold. Other concerning developments include the effect of algorithms on our way of thinking and interacting with others, creating echo chambers that reinforce existing beliefs rather than challenging them.
In this context, reading books matters more than ever. It's a tool of resilience, discernment, and emotional intelligence that offers an antidote to our fragmented digital existence.
First, What Are Books, Really?
"Think before you speak. Read before you think."
Books are humanity's most sophisticated technology—transforming solitary thoughts into shared human consciousness, connecting minds across centuries and enabling each generation to build upon the accumulated wisdom of our species.
For most of human history, literacy was a privilege of elites. In ancient societies, often less than 10% of people could read. But with Gutenberg’s printing press in the 15th century, everything changed. Knowledge became accessible. Literacy exploded. Books laid the foundation for democracy, science, and individual empowerment.
To read a book is to step into someone else’s mind—whether it’s a scientist, a poet, a philosopher, or a stranger from a different century. It’s an act of intimacy, reflection, and shared humanity.
From Digital Fatigue to Reading
The global average screen time reached 6 hours and 37 minutes per day in 2023, according to DataReportal. Most of that time is spent reading or watching short-form content—tweets, headlines, memes, TikTok captions—leading to concerns about shrinking attention spans. A widely cited Microsoft study claimed the average attention span dropped from 12 seconds in 2000 to 8.25 seconds today—shorter than that of a goldfish.
Yet paradoxically, today people express a willingness to read more, wanting to consume more meaningful content. The 2024 global reading surge suggests a hunger for depth in an age of surface-level engagement. Books prove to be an essential tool to navigate today's world, offering several crucial benefits.
Books as Essential Tools in Today’s World
1. Well-Being: The Therapeutic Power of Reading
“Books are a uniquely portable magic.”
A growing body of recent research confirms that reading can meaningfully support mental health. In an overstimulated world dominated by screens and constant notifications, books offer something rare: sustained calm, cognitive restoration, and emotional clarity.
A 2022 meta-analysis published in BMJ Mental Health found that bibliotherapy—the structured use of books in therapeutic settings—led to significant, lasting reductions in symptoms of depression and anxiety, with effects comparable to standard talk therapy. A 2023 review in PLOS ONE echoed these findings, showing that reading interventions improved mental well-being across both clinical and general populations.
“Books allow people to process emotions at their own pace, often without the stigma or cost of formal therapy,” says Dr. Josie Billington, a researcher at the University of Liverpool who specializes in literature and mental health. “Fiction, in particular, helps readers build emotional distance and reflection—crucial ingredients in developing psychological resilience.”
This research is increasingly being put into practice. The UK’s National Health Service runs a “Reading Well” initiative that prescribes curated book lists for patients dealing with PTSD, anxiety, grief, and chronic stress. Similar programs have been launched in Denmark and the Netherlands, where public libraries and mental health providers now collaborate to offer reading-based support.
Even outside clinical contexts, the benefits are tangible. Studies show that regular reading is linked to lower stress, improved sleep, and reduced loneliness. These are critical outcomes at a time when, according to Gallup’s 2022 Global Emotions Report, 42% of adults globally reported feeling high stress on a daily basis.
2. Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Books Build Bridges Across Divides
"Books, by transporting us to other realities, actually help us engage more deeply with this reality"
Reading doesn't just improve individual well-being—it also enhances interpersonal understanding. Psychologists have found that reading literary fiction, in particular, can sharpen empathy and improve what researchers call “theory of mind”—the ability to comprehend others’ mental and emotional states.
In a landmark 2013 study published in Science, participants who read short literary fiction stories showed significantly higher empathy scores than those who read nonfiction or genre fiction. According to Dr. Raymond Mar of York University, “Fiction simulates social experience, and readers build emotional skills as they mentally navigate complex characters and relationships.”
Neuroscientific studies support this view. When people engage with narrative texts, brain regions associated with empathy and social cognition become more active. A 2019 UK-based reader survey found that 64% of respondents reported a better understanding of other people’s emotions as a result of reading. During the COVID-19 pandemic, 59% of young readers said books made them feel more connected to others, according to the Reading Agency.
Former U.S. President Barack Obama has cited literature as foundational to his worldview, remarking in interviews that novels taught him the complexity of human experience: “The notion that the world is complicated and full of greys—but there's still truth there to be found—was something I learned from books.”
In an era marked by social polarization and online hostility, the capacity for empathy—especially with those unlike oneself—is an increasingly valuable public virtue.
3. Discernment of Information: Critical Thinking in the Algorithm Age
“The illiterate of the 21st century won’t be those who can’t read, but those who can’t discern.”
The resurgence in reading also reflects a broader concern: how to discern truth in an era of digital noise. Platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok rely on engagement-driven algorithms that amplify emotion and reward confirmation bias. According to Scientific American, these platforms “interfere with how people typically learn from others,” fostering echo chambers and misinformation.
Books, by contrast, offer extended argument, context, and evidence. They ask readers to slow down, weigh perspectives, and live with complexity—traits central to critical thinking.
Research from the RAND Corporation confirms that media literacy and long-form reading improve the ability to identify bias and detect false claims. This is particularly urgent in democracies where disinformation undermines trust in institutions.
“Sustained reading builds a kind of mental resilience,” says Dr. Maryanne Wolf, author of Proust and the Squid. “It helps us resist the cognitive shortcuts that digital environments condition us to take.” According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), countries with higher youth reading rates tend to have stronger civic engagement and lower susceptibility to misinformation.
A Path Forward
The return to reading is not a wholesale rejection of technology—but it may reflect a recalibration. As more people seek relief from information fatigue, books offer a medium uniquely suited to slow thinking, deep emotion, and intellectual clarity.
Whether fiction, memoir, science, or philosophy, books remain our most powerful technology for developing empathy, critical thinking, and the patient wisdom needed to navigate an increasingly complex world.