Rekindling the reading habit in a scrolling world

In a world where attention spans are shrinking and screens dominate our leisure time, the quiet act of reading a book feels almost like a rebellion. When was the last time you, or someone you know, chose to read a book over Netflix or Facebook?

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Once a treasured pastime, reading for pleasure is now competing with endless reels, bite-sized memes, and algorithm-fed distractions. Generations once grew up with bedtime stories and library visits, but today’s youth are growing up with TikTok trends and rapid-scroll consumption. The question is not whether reading has changed, but whether we are losing it altogether.

The decline of deep reading is not just anecdotal—it’s measurable. The 2023 National Readership Survey commissioned by the National Book Development Board in the Philippines showed that fewer than four in 10 Filipinos read books regularly, and the numbers are even lower among younger age groups. That’s 42 percent of adults and 47 percent of children reading regularly. This represents a significant drop from a 2017 peak where 80 percent of adults and 93 percent of children were regular readers.

Globally, similar patterns emerge: Traditional reading is declining, replaced by shorter, dopamine-driven content consumed in seconds. Social media, while a useful tool, often fragments our attention and shifts our preference toward instant gratification.