Young people hardly read anymore. The consequences are serious

As studies have shown for years, reading activity in the population, especially among young people, is steadily declining. A recent report in the Guardian made headlines, claiming that British children's reading enthusiasm had sunk to an all-time low. A discussion ensued on X and other media outlets about how serious and dire this finding should be considered. This newspaper also reported on the debate. As expected, there were warnings – but somewhat surprisingly, there were also some prominent intellectuals who attempted to counter the alarmism: writing is simply being replaced by audio and video, and other skills are now developing, such as the British zoologist and bestselling author Matt Ridley.

Who is right? Are audio and video truly equivalent to the written word? Equivalent in terms of what purpose? You can easily listen to a crime novel as an audiobook. A physics textbook, however, hardly. But why learn physics at all these days and not just ask AI? Is the acquisition of in-depth and comprehensive knowledge – apparently the main purpose of reading – still necessary and useful? Even in educational policy, there is talk everywhere of competency orientation, because learned knowledge becomes outdated too quickly. Why keep in mind what you already have in your hand, ready to present at any time on a little "digital silver platter"? Well, to rely solely on that would be a mistake that couldn't be more fundamental.

Of course – as biological beings, we can indulge our sensory surfaces in a magnificent way with multimedia. But if we want to evolve first and foremost as intellectual and cultural beings, if we want to retain autonomy and control, then we must also have knowledge in our heads, not least in order to be able to properly question, evaluate, and regulate the emerging AI.

The decisive argument, however, was already formulated by Goethe: "One only sees what one knows." And one can only enjoy what one sees or senses. While the wine novice is only able to distinguish a few aspects of taste, the sommelier has hundreds of terms at his disposal, and his instruction, including theoretical ones, will be very helpful for the novice.

Perception and knowledge always develop in interaction. Learned abstract conceptual knowledge can therefore be very helpful in shortening the personal path of experience and enormously diversifying and intensifying the sensory world. The apparent richness of the external world is in reality the richness of our inner world. Only those with prior knowledge of cultural history can fully resonate within themselves the wealth of associations hidden in an exhibition.

Fulfillment in life and happiness have a lot to do with being filled with knowledge. And there are many other arguments why one thing is essential for us humans as spiritual beings: the acquisition and internalization of vast amounts of knowledge and their internal organization into adequate conceptual models of the world.

Put simply, this process breaks down into two steps: First, we must memorize knowledge building blocks. Then, we must internally organize these building blocks into complex and coherent models. The first requires the most effective "imprinting" and repetition possible; the second requires time for processing and leisure for playful reflection.

It is therefore easy to see that the best way to acquire such inner wealth is to read – and to be precise, analogue reading, reading paper books. The stable form makes paper books and pages more suitable for initial memorisation – a certain piece of information is always in the same place and not here or there, depending on the format and advertising. This makes it easier to find for any subsequent repetition. A paper book is easy to handle and easy to keep track of: you may remember that what you are looking for was at the top of a right-hand page at the end of the book. And there you have it, especially if it has been underlined. All of this is much more difficult with digital books. Some people have to google how many pages the paper book actually has just to get an idea of ​​the length of the digital text.

Furthermore, the acquisition of a text is greatly enhanced by handwritten underlining, marginal notes, or even excerpts. Studies have shown that multisensory learning involving handwriting is more effective and also has advantages over typing. Of course, it's crucial that digital devices contain a multitude of distractions, some of which significantly reduce concentration. Accordingly, studies indicate that analog reading leads to better understanding of content. The mere presence of an inactive digital device reduces students' concentration.

Video and audio formats can be valuable additions to knowledge transfer in terms of multisensory learning. However, they are unsuitable on their own for the true acquisition of demanding learning content. Firstly, the fleeting nature of these formats reduces their initial memorability. But above all, temporal control over the flow of information is too cumbersome. When reading, we can pause at any time, reflect, or reread a sentence or paragraph. This is essential for the internal organization of complex knowledge. Pausing and replaying videos or podcasts, on the other hand, is so fiddly that in practice we don't do it nearly as often as necessary.

Reading is therefore essential for education; the core educational content should be acquired in an analog way.

Even the educated middle class today is little aware of the revolutionary impact reading has had on cultural and social development, and how much it has even reshaped our psychoneural identity. This can be read in the important book "The Strangest People in the World" by Harvard anthropologist Joseph Henrich.

It is shown here that the widespread literacy of the population initiated by Protestantism was the decisive factor that led to the development of a special set of psychological abilities. These include abstract-analytical thinking, increased self-discipline, the desire to understand oneself as an individual and to further develop one's personal skills, as well as the ability to integrate into institutions that function according to abstract, impersonal rules. This was the breeding ground on which the scientific-industrial revolution began to flourish, from which our modern, liberal-democratic, affluent societies grew.

Just as intensive bodybuilding visibly changes the body and makes it more efficient, intensive reading strengthens the mind and demonstrably changes the brain - among other things, it leads to changes in the prefrontal cortex, particularly in the area of ​​the language centers, as well as to a thickening of the corpus callosum (the "information highway" that connects both hemispheres of the brain).

It's probably more than just correlations if, parallel to quantitative reading activity, the ability to understand the content of complex texts also declines. And: Contrary to the trend of previous decades, the IQ of the average population is now beginning to stagnate or even decline (inverse Flynn effect).

Reading culture is the pillar of Western civilization. Do we really want to test how stable it remains after this pillar collapses? Humans are analog creatures through and through. We can neither digitize reproduction nor the core processes of our self-education. It is important to preserve reading culture, limit digitalization in schools to a reasonable level, and continue to teach or return to teaching culturally important educational content in an analog way: with paper and pen.

Dietmar Hansch is a physician, psychotherapist, and publicist. Until May 2023, he headed the anxiety disorders department at the Hohenegg Private Clinic in Meilen.