George Orwell and Aldous Huxley, two celebrated dystopian authors, feared that books would lose a place in society. However, as acclaimed literary critic Neil Postmas once noted, the two authors did so for different reasons. While Orwell worried that the authorities would ban books, Huxley believed that books wouldn’t need to be banned: people, enamored by technology, would just stop wanting to read them.
Huxley’s vision may be coming true. In September, the New York Times analyzed the results of the federal government’s latest annual high school examination, reporting that the reading skills of high school seniors are “the worst they have been in three decades.” Barrington students are no exception. Every year, the Illinois Report Card analyzes student proficiency in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math by using SAT scores. In 2017, that data showed that 61.6% of Barrington students either met or exceeded standards in ELA. By 2024, that number fell to 54.7%.
Senior Kaitlyn Leonard started reading in kindergarten, and she loved it from the very beginning. Proud of her precocious abilities, Leonard always tried to read the biggest books she could get her hands on: in her eyes, the bigger the book was, the greater the satisfaction.
“I used to brag to people how much I could read. I loved being able to challenge myself, see what more I could learn and see how much of the world I could explore from the inside of my home,” Leonard said. “The feeling of accomplishment I got from finishing the first Harry Potter book in two sittings was so good.”
In eighth grade, however, the allure of her first phone overshadowed Leonard’s long-standing love for reading. Specifically, Leonard began to consume hours of short form content and social media. Nathan Crispo, from the University of Richmond Law School’s Journal of Law and Technology, writes about the emergence of “Tiktok Brain” among students, or the diminishing of student attention spans due to platforms like Tiktok, Reels, and Youtube Shorts that offer immediate dopamine releases. Even Leonard’s ability to sit through movies and TV shows has suffered.
“I started just reaching for my phone instead of a book, and my attention span just died. It was so sudden. Competing with social media is really hard, because it’s so easy to just turn on your phone and scroll for thirty minutes, getting instant gratification for the media you’re consuming. That just doesn’t happen when you’re reading,” Leonard said. “Even with technology, my attention span has gotten shorter and shorter and shorter.”
Leonard isn’t the only one struggling, with over 65% of the students polled saying that they would spend an hour on social media instead of reading a book. Short form content specifically is dominating students’ time, with 73.3% reporting that they spend around one to five hours engaging with it. Leonard attributes this to mental burnout, arguing that the numbing pleasure of short form content is so attractive after a stressful day.
“We push ourselves so hard for eight hours a day, and then we come home,” Leonard said. “With school, extracurriculars and homework, by the time you’re done you’re just like ‘what’s the point?’”
The point, according to neurologist Paul Wright, Vice President of the Neuroscience Institute at Nuvance Health, is the many benefits of reading. Wright refers to reading as “superfood for your brain.” The neurologist’s 2023 study, which captures and compared digital images of individual brains, showed that blood flow within the brain changes during reading activity. Wright argues that this change in blood flow causes a brain stimulation, which then expands cognitive function and memory.
The loss of attention spans is tangibly disrupting the classroom. AP English Literature teacher William Rohner has seen these changes first-hand.
“I used to teach freshmen before this year. Over the years, I found that freshmen were less interested in using independent reading time at the beginning of class to actually read their books. Whereas eight years ago, students were already readers from their practice at middle school,” Rohner said.
With each new batch of freshman, Rohner also noticed a decline in the amount of time his students spend reading for their own enjoyment.
“Students used to have a book at home that they would read at night before bed. Reading in class was a continuation of that process, but in more recent years, I have found that books are not a regular part of student life,” Rohner said.
Rohner’s view is validated by the fact that 25.5% of Barrington students polled say they do not read for fun, and an additional 21.1% say they “rarely” do so. So how are students completing reading assignments? According to freshman English and AP English teacher Douglas Connell, students may not be doing the reading. The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has allowed students to avoid work in unprecedented ways, completing assignments without even having to open a book.
“Why read the novel when students can just have AI summarize it ten minutes before class? Frankly, I don’t have any aversion of kids using SparkNotes or things like that if they need that to help them make sense of a text. Reading has always been a tough sell, but I don’t want technology to replace students’ experiences,” Connell said.
In addition to the host of cognitive benefits, Connell believes reading is crucial to our humanity and emotional development.
“The capacity to have empathy for other human beings comes in part from books. When you don’t read, it shrinks your capacity to empathize with other human beings. I do think there’s a better chance you’ll have a stronger moral compass having read,” Connell said.
How does our school follow these patterns?
Maryanne Wolf, the director of the UCLA Center for Dyslexia, echoes Connell’s concerns. Her research shows that because novels allow readers to immerse themselves into a character’s life or struggles, in a way digital media does not, reading fosters crucial interpersonal skills.
Nevertheless, technology shows no signs of slowing down, and neither does its impact on pre-collegiate students. The same New York Times article reports that only 1 in 3 students are graduating high school with the reading skills needed for college, an impact that will be felt in the workforce and beyond.
James Merisotis, the chief executive of a policy institute that makes post-high school education more accessible, specifies this impact. Based on current reading levels, Merisotis predicts that the US economy will fall behind when this generation of students join the workforce. With a lack of fundamental reading skills, employees will suffer across a variety of jobs that require accuracy, decision-making and critical thinking skills, including healthcare workers and highway truck drivers.
If the experts make it clear the education system needs to course correct, what do we do? Leonard has tried to go back to the basics.
“I’ve been trying to nurse my way from poetry to short stories to novellas. Even if you’re shaving thirty minutes off your schoolwork to pick a book up, I think that is a worthwhile investment. Because of social media, reading will always be an uphill battle, but it’s something we have to fight against,” Leonard said.
Nobody is perfect, though: even Connell has to put his phone in another room to try and get through Middlemarch, a 785-page novel. But maybe fighting for our attention back is as simple as that – proving Huxley wrong and shutting down the screen.