Professors in university humanities departments have noticed that over the past decade students seem unable to read books.
In the fall semester of 2022, a first-year student told Columbia University professor Nicholas Dames that finishing a book within a week or two was too difficult, since in high school they were no longer required to read entire books. Twenty years ago, Dames's students would engage in in-depth discussions of Pride and Prejudice within a week, and then discuss Crime and Punishment the next week. Today's students find the reading load unbearable, not only because the pace is too fast, but also because they struggle to attend to small details while grasping the overall plot.
Princeton University historian Anthony Grafton said that his students arrive with smaller vocabularies than before and a weaker grasp of language than before. Daniel Shore, chair of the English department at Georgetown University, said students even struggle to concentrate long enough to finish a single sonnet.
The reason behind this phenomenon is thought to be the disruption of attention caused by smartphones and social networks. In 1976, about forty percent of high school graduates said they had read at least six books in the past year, and only 11.5% said they had read none. In 2022, those two percentages reversed.
