The Death of the Reader
Is it hyperbolic to suggest that there are too many writers and too few readers? Perhaps it is something that deserves greater exploration.
According to a survey done by Wordsrated in July 2022, which surveyed 2,003 Americans: 51.57% of adults haven’t read a full book in over a year, 22.01% haven’t read a book in over 3 years, and 10.83% haven’t read a book in more than 10 years.
It is admittedly brave to even respond to such a survey, especially in the negative rather than the affirmative. Reading involves a lot of factors, such as having free time, reading speed, and interest in the book itself.
When it comes to reading and writing comprehension, America is not a particularly proficient country. According to ThinkImpact, 79% of U.S. adults are literate, and only 46% have a reading level above 6th grade.
This is DEVASTATING. What kind of education system do we have? It looks like the standard set forth is worse than mediocre, completely dissociated from the expectations of an educated person. Are our students learning how to think in the English language? After all, English class is supposed to serve as a fundamental building block for our ability to communicate thoughts, feelings, and ideas. So, I do think there is a problem.
There are so many writers talking about so many things, especially in the context of blogging. They’ll talk about their lives, their hot takes on politics, their favorite foods. Some writers will discuss philosophy, theology, history, political science, and other serious topics.
But who is listening?
The dilemma of obtaining fans for our writing is that we begin measuring the ‘quality’ of our writing based on how many clicks we get. Because people are less patient than they used to be, and because of the oversaturation of information, the actual ‘value’ of our work is judged according to metrics which may have nothing to do with the writing.
Most of the time, the process of writing well is not the same as being successful as a writer. There are no Ernest Hemingways or George Orwells. There’s barely a shred of originality to the modern writing landscape! — and this is largely a consequence of capitalism in its current form, pushing writers down into a hole where they feel the need to make a decision. They either have to write for the sake of writing, for the passion of it (as I do), or they make it into a business, which inherently changes the way they write. Once a writer is seeking to MAKE MONEY, there is another motivation, separate from that of writing well and conveying a message.
And with this thought in mind, the death of the reader might actually be the death of the reader’s interest in all this excess writing.
I want more people to read. I want them to read Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Vonnegut, Orwell, Huxley, and many others.
But again, the reader has to CARE about what they’re reading. Just because I’m interested in, say, Catholicism and Buddhism, it doesn’t mean others are. And I can compel absolutely no one to read. They have to find their own world in books. Words draw up a world like no other, after all.
Thank you.
