The power of the printed word: When we stop reading, we forget how to think |
Picking up a book is no longer just a private pastime. In an age of distraction, it is a civic and cognitive act.Getty Images
Rick Lash is a Toronto-based psychologist and management consultant writing on leadership, psychology, and culture.
“Most of our students are functionally illiterate. This is not a joke.”
That line, from a pseudonymous college professor quoted by writer Derek Thompson in his essay, The End of Thinking, sounds exaggerated until you look at the trends. Teachers and professors across North America describe students who struggle to follow an argument through more than a few pages of prose. Many can decode words, but not sustain attention or tolerate ambiguity.
At the same time, reading itself is quietly shrinking. In the late 1990s, Americans reported reading close to 19 books a year on average; by 2021 that number had fallen to about 12. Time-use surveys show that reading for pleasure has dropped sharply, especially among young people. They are not illiterate in the traditional sense – they text, scroll and post constantly online – but they are losing the habit of deep reading.
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Mr. Thompson calls this a “thinning of thought”: A slow erosion of our collective ability to hold complex ideas in mind, weigh evidence and live with uncertainty. Financial Times columnist John Burn-Murdoch wonders whether we have already “passed peak brain power” at the very moment we are building........