When Inside Higher Education recently interviewed college students about their reading, a University of Florida sophomore claimed she relied entirely on YouTube videos to explain her reading. Academic texts, biology major Ava Wherley reported, used “overly complex language, which makes them harder to read.” Ironically, Wherley likely spends hours trying to glean information she could get from an hour of reading.

But Wherley is not, as she believes, a visual learner. Instead, she’s a struggling reader, likely with a fluency at a middle-school reading level because she’s also an avoidant reader. And the more she avoids reading, the harder she’ll find reading. In other words, Wherley perfectly illustrates the Matthew Effect, caught in a vicious cycle that dooms her success in college, the workplace, and life, including her ability to understand a complex argument or make an informed legal decision.

In this respect, Wherley has plenty of company. Untold millions of students rely on SparkNotes, videos, or AI for their reading, largely because they struggle with reading........

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