If you haven't listened to part 1 of this episode, we recommend doing so before listening to this episode! In part 2, we continue the conversation about literacy by taking a deep dive into some of the studies that have informed recent articles announcing the doom of literacy and reading. Specifically, we grapple with the source material for the viral Atlantic article, "The End of Reading is Here." We then look at some other (and in our opinion more credible) sources for statistics about this topic in the U.S. and discuss the slightly less clickbait-y but still concerning reality of literacy and numeracy rates in the past decade plus.
We also talk about what we can all do about this. Although the trajectory of literacy in the age of social media and generative AI is sobering, there is reason to feel empowered and hopeful! We hope you'll join us and weigh in on this important topic that affects us all in so many ways.
Sources (roughly in order of discussion, not importance):
- https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/08/reading-crisis-postliterate-age/687618/?mc_cid=abbccafaa6
- https://news.gallup.com/poll/388541/americans-reading-fewer-books-past.aspx
- https://lindac.substack.com/p/are-books-dying-in-america?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email&triedRedirect=true
- https://www.arts.gov/sites/default/files/2022-SPPA-final.pdf?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
- https://aeon.co/essays/what-we-think-is-a-decline-in-literacy-is-a-design-problem
- The decline in reading for pleasure over 20 years of the American Time Use Survey: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12496190/
- The Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) Highlights: https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/2023/national_results.asp
- National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Long-Term Trends: https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ltt/2025/
- Among many U.S. children, reading for fun has become less common, federal data shows: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/11/12/among-many-u-s-children-reading-for-fun-has-become-less-common-federal-data-shows/
- Who doesn’t read books in America? https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/09/21/who-doesnt-read-books-in-america/
- https://techwontsave.us/episode/277_generative_ai_is_not_inevitable_w_emily_m_bender_and_alex_hanna
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Intro and outro music: "The Chase," by Aves.
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