Why Reading Matters—And What We Can Do About It

Reading is in trouble — and not just for kids. In this episode, I'm sitting down with the Tech Guy to talk about some genuinely alarming statistics about literacy in the United States, discuss why reading matters more than ever, and share some easy, actionable ways you can help turn things around. 

From the surprising health benefits of cracking open a book (six minutes of reading cuts stress by 68%!) to how you can get more young readers excited about books in your community, this episode is a shoutout to all the readers out there to take action. 

Grab something warm, settle in, and let's talk about why you — yes, you — are making a difference just by being a reader. Let us know what you think!

🎉 Join me on Patreon for bonus content.

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Transcript

Ellie Alexander 0:04

Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of Reality Writes. I am author Ellie Alexander. This is the podcast where we talk about all things writer-ish, reader-ish, bookish, and whatever else is on our mind. And today I'm here with the tech guy.

Tech Guy 0:21

The tech guy, as always, with the tech guy. Today's great. Good. I ran two miles today. Woo! I know. I know some people are probably like, really tech guy? Two miles? Like, really? Like, I trust me. I get it. To some people out there, that's not a lot. And and honestly, two years ago, to me, that wasn't a lot. That would have been like a warm-up. But um injury, life, whatever got in the way. I don't know. It's funny. It reminds me of uh that episode from Castle where he had the poker game with all the famous authors like James Patterson, and they're like, really Castle? One book a year, really? Like that's like really tech guy, two miles. But um I don't know. It's uh I'm getting back into running and I'm at the very beginning, and it's it feels awesome. Um The Runner's High is real.

Ellie Alexander 1:21

The runner's high is real. You heard it here first, darlings. Well, it's kind of a good segue into what we're gonna talk about today. Um, because I think sometimes on your runs you listen to audiobooks, and today we're gonna do a deep dive into why reading is so important and how you, darlings, can help. This is gonna be a bit of a call to action episode because um the numbers are real bad with reading right now.

Tech Guy 1:50

Real bad. Real bad.

Ellie Alexander 1:53

Start out and then I I know that you love stats, so I'll hand it over to you in a minute for stats, but it's all peppermint along the way. Okay, good. Okay. This topic um came up, well, I mean, it's something that is always on my mind because reading in the United States is falling off a cliff with kids under 18. Um, it's plummeting, it has been. This is like people have been screaming from the rooftops for a few years and longer. Um, and now we're really seeing the fallout. And it came to light because the London Book Fair was a couple weeks ago. And the head of Pan McMillan gave a talk about what she thought were the biggest threats to the industry, the book, the publishing industry as a whole. And I think a lot of people assumed that she would say AI. And her takeaway and talking point to everyone was that the biggest threat to books is the fact that there's a whole new generation coming that doesn't read.

Tech Guy 2:58

Yeah. Yeah. Is it and well, and and I would like to point out too that you mentioned that it that numbers are dropping for kids, but that's true of adults too. True. Um it I've got my first stat of the podcast here uh comes from the uh National Literacy Institute. And this is from 2024. So this is a couple of years ago, but a couple of years ago, according to this study that they did, more than half of US adults read below a sixth grade reading level.

Ellie Alexander 3:29

Yeah.

Tech Guy 3:30

Think about how terrible, like 54% of adults in the United States of America read below the equivalent of a sixth grader. And if anybody out there thinks that this doesn't impact them because they know they read above a sixth grade level and all of their friends and their family read above a sixth grade level, let me tell you, you are mistaken. You're sadly mistaken. Because listen, if half of us can't read above a sixth grade level, that affects everything and everyone in this country. And it needs to change. Um, and you know me. I mean, my nickname is the tech guy. I love gadgets and technology, love them, but they are also ruining us from a reading perspective.

Ellie Alexander 4:19

Right, because we're one of, I mean, there are of course, this is a multi-layered issue, right? It's not just one single thing. We can't blame reading falling off a cliff completely on technology, but you know, with this next generation coming up, they this is the first generation that was born basically with a screen in their face and have had access 24-7 to scrolling and streaming and just that constant bombardment of information and videos and all of those things. And then, you know, you throw in a pandemic and just sort of our education system and and so many things have fallen through the cracks. But one thing that I thought was really interesting in terms of the takeaway of the keynote from the London Book Fair was that her perspective was also like, okay, well, how do we use that technology to pull readers in, you know? So is it um little fun stories within games? Yeah, one of the big focuses of uh the industry right now, and this is already happening with a lot of bigger books that have been published, but um multi-narrators for audiobooks. So you're really getting almost a radio play experience where instead of just one narrator, you're getting an entire cast and background sounds. Um, so I like this lamp that it's not just like, oh, hey, we see technology as the root of all evil. It's like, okay, this is where we're at. How do we try to like find a way in to reading through that too?

Tech Guy 5:48

Right. And I and I don't want to vilify technology. Trust me, I'm the last person in the world that would do that. But and so that's a very good point because what you just described with the multi-narrator audiobooks and everything, like that harkens back to the old the radio shows of radio shows of old, right? Where you you know, people would gather around their radio and listen to these stories being acted out by by people. Um and we like so it's it's really it's really nice to see those things starting to make a comeback.

Ellie Alexander 6:26

Okay, and then the other piece of that is that kids in general and adults are not reading for enjoyment or pleasure either.

Tech Guy 6:36

Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's another one that I have a a big stat on, actually. Um that uh I saw that the National Endowment for the Arts, um, they said that the share of 13-year-olds who read for fun almost every day. So that that was the the you know, almost every day. Um that has fallen from 27% in 2012 to just 14% in 2023. Uh it's the lowest figure ever recorded. Um, and so I imagine that's only continued to go down. Um but the other concerning stat is that this study also showed that meanwhile, the share of those same kids who say they never or hardly ever read for enjoyment jumped from 22% to over 31%.

Ellie Alexander 7:32

Wow.

Tech Guy 7:33

In the same time period. I mean, that's that's just sad. There's so many good stories out there. So many good books.

Ellie Alexander 7:41

There's so many good stories in books. And um, one of the sort of like fallouts that we're seeing from this um focus maybe on screens is this concept that's now everywhere, which is second screen content. So, for example, movies are and TV shows. We're seeing this in a lot of media that we consume, are now directing the storyline to basically go to the lowest common denominator and plot point because the directors and writers are assuming, like, okay, somebody's on a second screen, they're scrolling while they're kind of half paying attention to this other thing that's happening.

Tech Guy 8:24

Yeah, and we've seen that actually in a couple of recent uh movies and and TV shows that that we have watched where we're like, why did they just explain that? Like, of course that's what happened. I mean, it was just like it was so jarring to be like, yeah, we know we're watching, you know, but it was it was just like five times.

Ellie Alexander 8:46

Okay. So this person picked me up and took me to the airport. Yeah, we just saw that happen. Why are you telling us? Oh right.

Tech Guy 8:54

Yeah, yeah. Oh, um, yeah, it's it's uh um it's really it's really concerning. It's also, I mean, it not only from just like a society standpoint, um from a business standpoint, like publishing, right? Yeah, for all the writers out there. Um you know, if you want to make a living writing, you need people reading, right?

Ellie Alexander 9:20

So uh Yeah, and I mean we sort of know that we're preaching to you know the choir here because of course all of the darlings listening are avid readers, but the problem is like, and I think this myself because I'm in my bubble of like I'm around everyone who's bookish. That's great for right now, but what does reading look like in five years, in ten years, in 15 years?

Tech Guy 9:42

Right.

Ellie Alexander 9:44

The entire industry could look completely different.

Tech Guy 9:48

Right. Yeah, no, that's a that's a fair point. Um I would hope that if somebody's listening to a podcast called Reality Rights, that they themselves are, you know, a pretty pretty avid reader. You know, one might probably probably um but there are a lot of benefits to reading that we haven't touched on.

Ellie Alexander 10:14

Yes, right, yes, right, exactly. Okay, so like we've got the pretty staggering facts that you've shared. We know that reading is falling off a cliff, we know that there's a whole generation coming of age that is not reading, not reading for pleasure, and also reading below grade level. But the thing about reading is it is so critical for so many things. The number one way that we build empathy is through reading. The way we build our creative muscle is through reading. The way we make connections again, da-da-da-da-da. Through reading. So it it it does speak to such a broader global cultural impact that we're gonna see if this trend continues.

Tech Guy 11:02

Right, and and the connection piece is huge. I mean, if you think about the community we built here, just with not only Reality Writes, but just your writing in general, things like the Ashland Mystery Festival, um, you know, all the book talks you go to when people are coming up and like, oh, you know, it's so great to see you again. And it's just like without if you took all if you took reading out of the mix, all of that goes away, right? No one's no one is no one is connecting to the same degree through other mediums. Um, not not in any, I guess, super like uh creative way. Um, you know, when it when it comes to uh reading, it you just get kind of the the uh like perfect storm of benefits.

Ellie Alexander 11:48

Mm-hmm. Well, and I think the other thing is just in terms of like um escapism, a way to kind of bring your own internal temperature, your blood pressure down. Like you've talked so much because you work in like, you know, the tech industry, it's really stressful. And reading can be a salve for that and a and a true way to just kind of center yourself and and take yourself out of that a little bit.

Tech Guy 12:14

Yes. And I have a stab for that. And it is actually one of the reasons this particular study, because I do read these things, um, right, read them. Uh um and this one was like it it hit close to home, but and this is kind of a did you know moment. Did you know? And this is according to the university, a study that the University of Sussex did. So shout out to the Brits. Um did you know that six minutes of reading cuts stress by 68%?

Ellie Alexander 12:51

Whoa. No, it's not right.

Tech Guy 12:54

Yeah, it it's more uh it's more effective than listening to music or even going for a walk. Um so uh and it's because when you read, your your brain disengages from the you know the daily problems. So if you've had a tough day at work, if you if you've you have like relationship stuff going on, if you know, whatever it is, political stuff, um all the things. Yeah. Um when you pick up a book and you start reading, your brain shuts all that off because it's focused on this content that you're consuming. And especially if it's good writing and the story is engaging and creative, it like allows your muscles to relax, your blood pressure to drop, which is good for me. Um, so uh I I couldn't believe it though. Six minutes is all it takes to cut your stress by 68%.

Ellie Alexander 13:53

So, I mean, darlings, this is if you get any pushback for reading, you can just be like, look, I am working on my health right here.

Tech Guy 14:00

Right, right. My doctor said I had high blood pressure. I have to read more.

Ellie Alexander 14:04

I must read for 12 hours a day.

Tech Guy 14:08

Right, right. No, and I it's um I this year especially. Um, I have like I upped my goal for reading, and I'm already on book seven for the year, you know, and we're mid mid to late March right now. So for me, that's that's huge. And again, I know there are people out there that are like seven books, tech guy, really.

Ellie Alexander 14:31

You're two miles and your seven books.

Tech Guy 14:34

A couple of them have been really long, though, I will say. Like the book I'm reading right now is over 600 pages. So, you know, your mileage may vary, I guess, but it's uh I I love it. Um, and it is really a big stress relief for me reading just in general.

Ellie Alexander 14:51

Well, yeah, and I think um to kind of dovetail on that, there it there has been kind of this pressure cooker sometimes of Bookstargram and feeling like, oh, I have to turn my reading into a competition with someone else to be like, oh well, like you're saying, you know, you only read seven books, well, I read 12 and and that kind of mindset. And I what I think is interesting is I'm really seeing a shift in that over the last year or so. But and but and but and this also ties in to sort of the judgment sometimes around reading of someone being like, oh, you're just reading a cozy mystery, or oh, you're reading a rom com or oh, you're just reading a fun sci-fi. Like, no, we need to be reading for pleasure or enjoyment, whatever that is, in whatever form, um, and to really like reclaim that as readers, to be like, it doesn't matter if you know the woman next to me or somebody else on Bookstagram is reading 500 books this year. If I'm reading seven and that's helping me, aces, keep going.

Tech Guy 15:57

Yeah, yeah. And and your your patrons out there um who are listening know my feelings on this. That is a that is a very touchy subject for me because I uh I tend to enjoy books of the sci-fi and fantasy nature. And those are not literary masterpieces, according to some, I I would say. Um I joined I joined a book club at work, and the first book we've read was God of the Woods, and it was a mystery, but it you told me after I started reading and I had all these questions, and we were talking about it, and you said, Oh no, but it's I it's considered a literary mystery. And I'm like, what that that word just like so I'm like, what does that mean? Like that just sounds like pretentious, and and and for people who enjoy that, that is wonderful. But to your point, nobody should judge anybody else by what they read. If you're reading, you're you're you're reading. Like that is that is it. We're all reading. That's why there are millions and millions of books out there.

Ellie Alexander 17:16

Right. And I think you know, the takeaway today should be that, and this is gonna probably segue us into why we are bringing a call of action to you, darlings, is that we should all be reading more. We should be encouraging other people to read more, and we should be finding ways to actively be engaged in helping young readers. So, off the cuff, there are a few things that I think are easy wins. Number one is reading aloud. If you have young kids in your life, if you're a parent or a grandparent, I know it sounds so simple, uh, but it's not necessarily easy, right? We all have busy lives and we're working and you know, screens are part of that and all the other things. But if you can even take 15 minutes a day to sit down and read aloud to a young child, that makes a critical difference in their literacy and their enjoyment of reading, right? Because that's how we, you and I, certainly became the readers that we are today because we had people reading aloud to us and story time was like my dream. Like I couldn't wait for library day at school. So figuring out ways to engage with young readers is my number one call to action for you.

Tech Guy 18:37

Get the kids hooked on books.

Ellie Alexander 18:39

Get them hooked on books. Let's go. Book pushers.

Tech Guy 18:43

Yeah. No, I was like, I uh that one of the things that I was so proud of for a long well, still am, I guess, but um I was on the with Scott little little tiny. Well, he wasn't tiny, he was a big chubby baby, but uh, but he was a baby. Uh, and I was on the cover of the Vancouver uh public libraries um you know uh baby like story time brochure that he handed out uh for a while there. That was pretty cool. Um uh and he loved going to story time, like all the kids did that were there. It was so fun to go and and be with them while one of the librarians was reading a book out loud and and they were just they loved it. They were eating it up. They didn't even understand the words, but it was just the activity of being amongst those books and hearing a story being said, the cadence of the words and the expression of the reader and everything that they just um and you know that kid now, well, he's not a kid anymore, but he he consumes books like most kids consume candy. That's right.

Ellie Alexander 19:54

So we did our job. Uh well, I think that's another great way to get involved is reach out to your local library. So many of them have volunteer programs. Uh, so that would be a great entry way. I love the organization. Reading is fundamental. And we can link to it, I think, in the show notes, right? They have volunteer opportunities all across the United States where you can get involved. There are lots of also organizations like rotary clubs that will go and read to kids. Your public school has all kinds of opportunities for you to get involved and volunteer. I used to go read aloud once a week at Sky Guy School. So any way that you can actively get engaged in helping this next generation get excited about reading, I think is fantastic.

Tech Guy 20:44

Yeah, for sure. And and to tie it back to that technology thing, again, we were talking about this earlier. Um, you know, we have we have apps that that help us limit our screen time, but I've never heard of an app that is out there to help limit your reading time.

Ellie Alexander 21:03

Right. Yeah.

Tech Guy 21:04

And you think about that for a second. I mean, that is that's kind of wild, right? I mean, we have apps that help us limit a lot of things, you know, how much we watch screens, how much we consume, all of those things. There's nothing out there. The only apps out there are to track how much you've read. Not to tell you to read less, but to help you read more. So there's I I think that's a uh that's very telling uh I think that's pretty profound.

Ellie Alexander 21:34

No, it actually gives me goosebumps. It's true, because there's there's no like con of reading for too long, I don't think. Sort of like maybe you'll be sleepy the next morning if you stay up too late. But like you can speak reading right now.

Tech Guy 21:48

Like, I mean, get outside and take a walk every once in a while for sure. But you know what? Listen to an audiobook while you do it. There you go. Win win. There you go.

Ellie Alexander 21:56

Dun dun dun.

Tech Guy 21:57

If if reading for six minutes lowers You're stressed by 68%. If you add walking on top of that, man, you are going to lead a stress-free life.

Ellie Alexander 22:06

You are going to lead a stress-free life. And there is also so much interesting new research uh about crossing the uh brain hemispheres. So if you're walking and listening to something on audio, like that's really good for your brain health too.

Tech Guy 22:21

Yeah, just uh watch watch the curbs. They get a little tricky sometimes. Oh, yeah.

Ellie Alexander 22:25

I mean, especially for me, that's true. But uh my other thing that I would encourage you, darlings, to do is to support your local indie bookstores because they're doing a lot of events for kids. Storytime at local indie bookstores is free. Like, you don't have to buy the book for them from them. I mean, please do if you're financially able and support them, but like find out what other ways that you can be involved in an indie bookshop. I also personally started a Mysteries and Mocktails book club here with my local independent bookstore in California, Lee's Books and Sunnyvale. And it's created the most wonderful community that has like gone and blossomed on its own. So if you're at home and you're thinking, okay, I don't have a book club, I don't have a local indie bookstore near me, like how do I get involved? This is your sign to start something. Like, even if it's reaching out to a neighbor who you don't know or doing a post on next door and saying, hey, let's all anyone who wants to read this book, let's meet at this coffee shop, like find ways to create a bookish community in your world in any way, shape, or form.

Tech Guy 23:36

Right, a bookish third space, right? Third place, third space. What is it? Third space, yeah. And then one thing I'd say about indie bookstores, I mean, besides just supporting small businesses being better for everyone, um, and I know this doesn't go for all indie bookstores, but there are many out there. I know Lee's is one of them. Um, you know, books are expensive. Like we get that. Like it books can books can cost a lot, and that's where libraries come in handy. But independent bookstores, a lot of them also have like used books and they have buyback programs. Um, so if you buy a new book, you can take it back in if it's in good condition and get credit toward the purchase of another book at an indie bookstore. So um, and the other thing that I will say about pretty much every independent bookstore that at least that we've had experience with, which now after many, many years of doing this, is a lot of indie bookstores. Yeah, they love to support anything to do with reading. So if you've got an idea for something to get the community more involved in reading, to get more books in the hands of kids and everything, talk to your local independent bookstore owner, and you'd be surprised. Like uh they probably would jump at the chance uh to get involved and help out. I mean, they're not going to give you millions of dollars of books for free, but because they are a business. Um, and they, you know, they are trying to make a living, but they will they will definitely uh be supportive of anything that you, you know, any ideas that you have that uh that will help increase literacy within the community.

Ellie Alexander 25:12

And most of them, like the vast majority of indie bookshops, do support literacy in the community. I'm thinking of vintage books in Vancouver, Washington. Right. They donate books for free for any school kid who comes in. And um, when Sky Guy was in elementary and middle school, we were trying to round up books and they were immediately like, here, let we're in. Like, how can we help? So, yeah, I mean, I think any way that you can collaborate and create community around books is a good thing. We have too many books in our house, if there is such a thing. Um, we've been trying to make a commitment to filling local libraries whenever we can. Little free libraries.

Tech Guy 25:53

Little free libraries, yeah. Little free libraries.

Ellie Alexander 25:55

Sorry, don't take your books. Well, I mean, libraries can do friends of library sales, but um, little free libraries. Thank you very much. Yeah, yeah.

Tech Guy 26:04

And I uh just in case, I'm I'm sure most, if not all, listeners out there, darlings out there are familiar with little free libraries, but those are the little like cases that you see out in front of some people's homes that have books in them. And it's free. You can come take as many books as you want, leave as many books as you want. Um, and it's just community, a great way for the community to share books for free um and to kind of spread the love. So again, going back to that uh the whole you know, books can be expensive thing, it's great to kind of spread the wealth, I guess. And so we do when we go on long walks, which is like, you know, well, you know, every weekend together, we'll take a look at our bookshelves and go, okay, you know, I mean, what last time, last time we discovered we had three copies of the same book, like on different bookshelves. And we were like, What, why? Why? What happened? At some point, we we acquired three copies of the same book. So we took those and we dropped them into various little free libraries that we encountered along the way.

Ellie Alexander 27:11

That's right. Yeah. And I guess to wrap it up, darlings, in the comments, we would love to hear from you. Like, what other ideas do you have for creating community around books to getting this next generation excited about books? I want to hear.

Tech Guy 27:28

Yeah, or things that you're already doing. Um, share those in the comments because this is such a connected community of readers and writers. Um, it would be great. And it would probably help other people in different communities to implement those ideas. And and again, just get the get everyone hooked on books.

Ellie Alexander 27:49

Hooked on books. That's our takeaway. You get a book, hook those good on books.

Tech Guy 27:57

That's right, right. There are a lot of other bad things that can get hooked on, but books is not one of them. So all right.

Ellie Alexander 28:05

Well, on that note, until next time and happy, happy reading. Thank you for being readers in the world. You are you're doing the work.

Tech Guy 28:14

That's right. Until next time, happy reading.