Here’s Why Nobody Wants To Read Anymore

I'll be honest. I have only read 3 books in the last two years. For someone who used to read 50+ books a year, it was a big disappointment. If you calculate, it comes to about 10-12 pages a week. A week.

When I did this math, I couldn't believe myself. Yes, I moved abroad. Yes, I had new responsibilities, but hey, that didn't stop me from scrolling mindlessly for hours. I had read more on Instagram captions and hooks than I had read on my stupid phone.

For someone who's a full-time writer, I was embarrassed to confess that. I had taken a break from writing to settle down in Jamaica. I wanted to go to the beach and read books, and I still ignored reading, which used to be my favorite hobby. Was it even a hobby when I had barely read anything?

I'd sleep with a heavy heart every night for not reading. To console myself, I checked in with my friends about their reading habits and realised I wasn't the only one struggling. They were also struggling to focus. They couldn't resist the temptation to pick up their phones over a book, either.

That got me thinking about why nobody wants to read anymore.

The truth is — our brains are cooked

Online content is on steroids lately. In the realm of the internet, everyone is an entertainer. We're consuming media not just from our favourite creators but also from any Tom, Dick, & Harry.

It's a lot of info to deal with. The world outside our screen is no different. It's impossible to keep up with the crazy stuff happening around us. Be it the West Asia conflict, anti-immigration rallies, or people dying on live streams. It's too much for our brains to process.

To read is to focus.

We also can't ignore what's happening in our lives. Relationships, debt, aging parents, and high rent are among the silent battles we face every day. Our brains weren't wired for this digital firehose.

Dr. Gloria Mark from the University of California tracks a terrifying reality: our digital attention span has collapsed from minutes to mere seconds.

"In 2004, we found that people averaged about two and a half minutes on any screen before switching," Mark notes. "Around 2012, we found it to be 75 seconds. And in the last few years, we found it to average about 47 seconds."

To read is to focus, and we can't focus for more than 30 seconds; how can we expect our minds to read a full-length book?

The world is not what it used to be

Back in the day, people couldn't survive without reading. They read words written on a scroll, on cloth, and even on rocks. Reading was how they lived informed, and connected to the world.

Written words were the only type of media people were consuming, no podcasts, no videos, or short-form content running their brains, unlike today.

I don't mean a lifetime ago, but just five years back, reading was effortless. If I had a spare minute, I would have a book in my hands. I consumed pages like a beautiful sunset — slowly, completely locked in. Focus wasn't a battle back then. I didn't have to make a decision whether to read or not. Reading was the only option, unlike today, where there are countless options to spend my time.

The options on my big screen alone are dizzying. I can watch a movie or a show on Netflix or ten other streaming services. If I am not feeling like committing to a show or movie, I switch to YouTube Premium, which is logged in on my smart TV. I can watch a vlog, a video of Japan, or do a quiz if I am feeling excited. Those are just the options I have on the big screen.

When you have nothing to do, you read or create something. When you have so much to do, your time and energy are spent making decisions.

Then there's the phone, opening automatically to a screen that takes you places you didn't even know you could go. Two taps into a feed and a few precious minutes — if you're lucky — or hours, if you're a regular, simply vanish. When we didn't have these many options, we were reading and creating.

Now, when you are flooded with options, your time and energy are entirely consumed by the exhausting act of making decisions.

The cultural shift

With AI, when everyone thinks they're replaceable. They worry about making a living and providing for their families. They spent their free time building a side hustle, creating another faceless YouTube channel, and creating another course nobody needs.

No content, no distraction is blocking their reading time, but mental exhaustion is. They're busy making money, trying to find another source of income. They don't have the privilege of sitting peacefully and reading a book like the wealthy do.

Side quests & an uncertain future

The luxury that reading has become is accessible only to those who can protect their attention from a thousand competing distractions and can afford it. The rest of us end up with more dopamine-worthy short-form content and are glued to screens.

The hope of making an extra income, the hope to feel better after an endless scroll, or the sheer laziness to improve ourselves is making reading an ancient hobby.

The amount of patience, endurance, and focus it requires to read in 2026 is ridiculously high. It is 10X more challenging than it was before. However, it is only for the heck of us to think originally for ourselves.

The Dopamine Trap

We commute to audiobooks, fold laundry into 30-minute book breakdowns, and scroll past thirty-second summaries.

We've outsourced the magic of discovery to influencers and AI, turning the act of reading into an uphill battle against algorithms specifically engineered to fracture our focus — a Sisyphian struggle against our own dopamine-addicted minds.

Pushing the boulder of our attention toward the final page, only to be distracted by a notification. But convenience is a thief. It robs us of the rare, intoxicating feeling John Green described:

"Sometimes, you read a book and it fills you with this weird evangelical zeal, and you become convinced that the shattered world will never be put back together unless and until all living humans read the book."

The question isn't truly why you aren't reading anymore — it's what part of your world you are willing to leave broken because you chose the easier click.

This is how I am planning to get back to reading

How I Tricked My Brain Back Into Reading Fighting reading block, doomscrolling to read 20 books in 2026. Here's my brutally honest plan