Does anyone actually read these days? More specifically, does anyone read beyond the headlines, dive into the detail, or read a book from start to finish, even if it’s a bit long? The media loves to remind us that we’re reading less than ever before, or that Australians read less than other countries. Headlines about ‘young people’ ramp up the drama even more, with hand-wringing about high schools assigning excerpts instead of full books, or university students overwhelmed by assigned readings.
But maybe some kind of change is underway in 2026. Journalist Kate Spicer predicts we will be leaning hard into philosophy, deep reading and critical thinking this year – including the cohorts moving through our universities right now:
Gen Z already treat reading long, difficult texts as a mix of homework and radical self-care; they see it as a basic protection against AI-induced brain rot.
Kate Spicer writing in The Sunday Times, December 2025
She’s not the first to suggest that reading could be seen as ‘radical’, or even framed as ‘self-care’. But could this really be the moment every academic has been waiting for? Will everyone, perhaps as an act of rebellion against the tyranny of doomscrolling, actually do the set reading before coming to class?
Reading as a ‘problem’… or is it?
The challenge of getting students to ‘do the reading’ has been a perennial discussion in higher education. An article published here 10 years ago shared strategies for ‘readings re-booted‘, followed with later reflections on why your students aren’t doing their required readings, including research showing a decline in ‘reading compliance’ from school to university. If you’ve taught at any time in the last few years, you might feel that the reading list has become a quaint curiosity; often referenced but only consulted for the minimum time necessary.
Things may be shifting again, now that AI can summarise those pesky long readings, but I’m not sure that gets to the heart of the issue. When reading is a problem to be solved or a task that requires ‘compliance’, we unwittingly reinforce the idea that reading is unpleasant – and after studying a literature-heavy undergraduate degree, I totally get it. The weekly requirement to cover everything from medieval Italian poetry to 20th century German political satire ‘to order’ (read, analyse, produce essay) meant bribing myself with packs of Haribo Starmix, just to get through the volume of reading (10 pages = one heart/egg/cola bottle). My teeth never quite recovered from the sugary onslaught, and I didn’t read for pleasure again until several years after graduation.
For those who never liked reading in the first place, or were labelled ‘not book smart’ in high school, even a short list of readings without context or guidance can be a mental barrier – one that reinforces all the worries and self-doubt about being and belonging at uni. But I don’t think it has to be this way; in fact, reading might be about to have a renaissance – this time, without having to trudge through Dante’s Inferno to get there…
The right to read: defence against ‘brain rot’
After a few years of living in an AI-fuelled dream/dystopia, there are signs that people are taking back the right to read. Some commentators suggest that libraries now offer a sanctuary from screen fatigue, and thanks to some book-carrying celebrities on Insta and TikTok, reading is apparently ‘sexy’. Even if some of this is performative reading, I can think of worse trends to get caught up in.
My own research interviews with students have started to echo some of these sentiments. Whilst students know they can take short cuts with AI, most actually want to go through the process of learning (shocking, I know…). Some 3rd and 4th years are particularly keen to squeeze every last drop of value from the learning experience before they leave uni; to them, this is more than just a piece of paper to show they met the learning outcomes.
That said, most learners are unlikely to develop a love of reading completely independently, especially when faced with long academic articles steeped in specialist language that can feel like a deliberate attempt to obscure the key points. Whether ‘academic language’ needs a re-think is a debate for another day; in the short term, students need support, motivation, and encouragement to tackle longer texts.
Uni support services already offer some great strategies on how to read critically, and where AI does and doesn’t help you with reading. Sometimes, however, the extra spark you need comes from a teacher or peer’s enthusiasm for the text; when they point out what makes them excited about it, there’s a reason to open it up and see if it might excite you, too. Re-framing this as a personal ‘right’ and a well-earned retreat from our busy digital lives certainly sounds more attractive than threatening and cajoling students to do the reading, as though it should be endured, not enjoyed.
Shush now, I’m reading…
If you’re looking for evidence of the benefits of reading, there’s plenty out there. The Australia Reads Research Review highlights positive impacts on mental health, sleep, and even loneliness. If you’re a parent, you’ll already know that reading is good for your kids in all kinds of ways, with skills such as vocabulary building, counterfactual thinking, and cognitive flexibility carrying through to adulthood. If you’re a fan of fiction, studies show that it’s more than just a good story – it has benefits for you in the workplace, too.
But before you get all competitive about reading as your next self-improvement project, Oliver Burkeman offers a reminder that it’s not always about reaping benefits and retaining as many facts as possible – sometimes it’s just about doing something you love:
So you needn’t always choose to read what’s most edifying, or professionally useful, or most enthusiastically endorsed by the arbiters of culture. Sometimes it’s OK just to read whatever seems most fun. Spending half an hour reading something interesting, moving, awe-inspiring or merely amusing might be worth doing, not just to improve who you become in the future – though it might do that too – but for the sake of that very half hour of being alive.
‘Too much information: On the art of reading and not reading‘ ~ in Meditations for Mortals, Oliver Burkeman (2024)
If you’re inspired to wander back to your bookshelf or down to your local library, I hope you find a little selfish joy between the pages of your next read. Whether it’s an old favourite you wear like a comfy pair of slippers, or a thrilling yarn that makes your heart beat faster with every page, take a moment to appreciate doing something at your own pace, just for you.
Thanks for reading!