At what age did/will you stop reading new books? (Colin welcome here! Anti-Colin folks, too!)

In general, when did you stop reading new books?

  • Before 21

  • 22-26

  • 27-30

  • 31-34

  • 35-39

  • 40+

  • Haven't yet but... (post age in thread)

  • Never will


Results are only viewable after voting.

Rembrandt Brown

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Registered
Leisure reading in the U.S. is at an all-time low

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/resi...aws.com/public/SBJV3DNIO42WRPW7KKRNPEETV4.png


By Christopher Ingraham
Washington Post
June 29, 2018

The share of Americans who read for pleasure on a given day has fallen by more than 30 percent since 2004, according to the latest American Time Use Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2004, roughly 28 percent of Americans age 15 and older read for pleasure on a given day. Last year, the figure was about 19 percent.

That steep drop means that aggregate reading time among Americans has fallen, from an average of 23 minutes per person per day in 2004 to 17 minutes per person per day in 2017.

Reading declines are higher among men. The share of men reading for pleasure on any given day fell from 25 percent in 2004 to 15 percent in 2017, a drop of nearly 40 percent. The decline among women was a more modest 29 percent, from 31 percent in 2003 to 22 percent in 2017.

The survey data shows declines in leisure reading across all age levels. Percentage-wise, the likelihood of reading declined the most among Americans ages 35 to 44, with smaller declines for both younger and older age groups.

The American Time Use Survey is based on a nationally representative sample of about 26,000 individuals. Respondents answer questions and fill out detailed time diaries about how they spent the previous day. The large sample size means the survey's time-use estimates are extremely precise relative to traditional phone surveys, which may involve only 1,000 people or fewer.

The findings on reading comport with some other recent data on American reading trends. Numbers from the National Endowment for the Arts show that the share of adults reading at least one novel, short story, poem or play in the prior year fell from 57 percent in 1982 to 43 percent in 2015.

Survey data from the Pew Research Center and Gallup have shown, meanwhile, that the share of adults not reading any book in a given yearnearly tripled between 1978 and 2014.

It's tempting to blame the decline on the recent proliferation of computers, cellphones, video games and the like. But the data don't really bear that out. For one, the NEA data show that reading has been on the wane since at least the 1980s, well before the advent of Facebook and Fortnite.

A long-term study of reading trends in the Netherlands points to a different culprit: television. From 1955 to 1995, TV time exploded while weekly reading time declined. “Competition from television turned out to be the most evident cause of the decline in reading,” the authors of that study concluded.

In the United States, the American Time Use Survey shows that while the average reading time fell between 2004 and 2017, the average amount of time watching TV rose.

In 2017, the average American spent more than 2 hours 45 minutes per day watching TV, every day of the year, or nearly 10 times the amount of time they devoted to reading for pleasure.
 

Tdot_firestarta

Rising Star
BGOL Investor
Never .. wtf

I aim for a book every 2 weeks...i dont always accomplish that goal, but make sure im constantly doing some active reading..

I do need to make more of an effort to check out fictional titles or subjects out of my area of expertise/ usual interests
 

Leatherf7ce

Phantom of the Chakras
BGOL Investor
I've finished eleven fiction and three non fiction books since first of January according to my goodreads. Don't know what the fuck this article talking about...
 

Rembrandt Brown

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Registered
Never .. wtf


I've finished eleven fiction and three non fiction books since first of January according to my goodreads. Don't know what the fuck this article talking about...

I know people aren't going to proudly admit they don't read and either lie or just not participate... But it's weird to me that people are acting like this article is about cats giving each other vasectomies or something else of that sort that is just unrealistic and inconceivable... You all don't know folks who stopped reading books a long time ago?
 

vertigo

Rising Star
Platinum Member
I think that it is fine to discuss the dwindling number of casual readers in the country (the reasons for- and what can be done to reverse it), and I think it's a real thing in this day and age of short attention spans- but I think that in making your thread a poll and wording the

title as you did, the respondents are weighting towards people who like to read. Why would anyone who doesn't like to read ever click into this thread? Why would an article about how no one is reading anymore appeal to someone who isn't reading anymore?


Considering this thread has only 52 views after a day, with 11.5 % of viewers responding(relatively high- which is what I would expect from readers) - while a 10 or 11 hours old thread titled "The thickness of this bitch DAMN" has 700+ views with only 3% replying... well, you see where I'm going.



Since I think most non-readers would simply steer clear of a thread like this, I am not so surprised at the poll results.


To answer your question though, I suppose I will stop reading when either my vision gives out, or I am no longer able to find interesting material easily.
 
Last edited:

Rembrandt Brown

Slider
Registered
I think that it is fine to discuss the dwindling number of casual readers in the country (the reasons for- and what can be done to reverse it), and I think it's a real thing in this day and age of short attention spans- but I think that in making your thread a poll and wording the

title as you did, the respondents are weighting towards people who like to read. Why would anyone who doesn't like to read ever click into this thread? Why would an article about how no one is reading anymore appeal to someone who isn't reading anymore?


Considering this thread has only 52 views after a day, with 11.5 % of viewers responding(relatively high- which is what I would expect from readers) - while a 10 or 11 hours old thread titled "The thickness of this bitch DAMN" has 700+ views with only 3% replying... well, you see where I'm going.



Since I think most non-readers would simply steer clear of a thread like this, I am not so surprised at the poll results.


To answer your question though, I suppose I will stop reading if when either my vision gives out, or I am no longer able to find interesting material easily.
:cool:

I agree.

View count is 74 now. The "At what age did/will you stop listening to new music" thread is 12 hours older and has 306 views, 36 replies, and 48 poll participants.
 

Leatherf7ce

Phantom of the Chakras
BGOL Investor
I know people aren't going to proudly admit they don't read and either lie or just not participate... But it's weird to me that people are acting like this article is about cats giving each other vasectomies or something else of that sort that is just unrealistic and inconceivable... You all don't know folks who stopped reading books a long time ago?
In my case you gotta consider the source. Live in DC not no backwater, yes everyone I know is a reader. At work (museum) most of them are at least 10-20 yrs my senior-they all read a ton as well. My kids, wife, crew yeah we all some book dorks. Maybe if I lived in Kentucky or some shit it would be different I dunno
 
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