WOODBURY – It’s 2026, and if you’re still looking for a New Year’s Resolution – how about you pick up a book for once?
Picture this, you’re in elementary or middle school, anticipating your class’s turn for the Scholastic Book Fair. You keep an internal list of all the books you can’t wait to buy – Dork Diaries, Diary of Wimpy Kid, Captain Underpants, and Goosebumps. The classroom is filled with cheerful suspense, light chatter filling the room. And when you were finally called down to the gym, clutching the $20 your parents lended you in your pocket, you and your friends eagerly rushed down the stairs.
These days, you don’t see that same excitement about books anymore. Despite living in an era where reading is more accessible than ever, whether it be online, audiobooks, or hard copies, it seems like students are losing the motivation to read. And in turn, they are choosing willful ignorance.
“I feel like students are not as excited when they see books, they feel more intimidated,” said Dawn Maletzke, the library media assistant at NHS. “On social media, there’s a lot of quick content, so having to slow down and read books feels overwhelming.”
A lot of students have become accustomed to technology, specifically short content forms. So when tasked with a long focus-dependent activity, students become inundated.
“However, when students give themselves a chance to get drawn into a story, Maletzke continues, “then it’s enough to help them pass that hurdle. [Reading] is an important skill to have.”
Furthermore, a lack of close reading can make students miss out on writing opportunities.
“You really need to have reading skills to produce good written pieces,” Katherine Aseltine, the head of NHS’ English department said. “Reading and writing go hand in hand, you can’t understand one without the other. So students who oppose reading tend to have poorer quality in their assignments.”
Luckily, all hope is not lost.
To combat this lack of interest, authors still make an effort to beguile readers into engaging with their books. From her experience of being in the library all day, Maletzke notes, “Hard cover books are still a big deal. I’ve noticed that in a lot of books that come in here through junior library Guild or Follet, they try to entice readers with pretty bindings and better covers. They are doing their best to make sure a book in hand is still something people want.”
Correspondingly, it seems that this scarcity of reading has made people shallow in a way. Marisa Holtman, a well-rounded English teacher at NHS, notes a similar phenomenon.
“I think that this lack of effort to read is affecting society,” Holtman said. “Just being able to communicate effectively in a way that’s thoughtful and developed has become uncommon. Many people are more apt to give short responses. There’s no diving deeper into topics.”
For a lot of students and people in general, reading is how they learn about the world and themselves. A lot of core human values, as well as social commentary are displayed through books.
“There’s a lot you can get out of reading – in terms of perspective taking, and having knowledge about other people’s lives, other time periods, and eras in history,” Aseltine said. “Reading really opens your world to a lot of these different experiences, and I don’t think you can get that from just watching TV or the internet. Reading lets you place yourself in the shoes of another person, and build empathy that a lot of people are lacking these days.”
