It’s a question writers and educators have been mulling over for years: does gamifying reading help or hurt the broad end goal of having people read for pleasure and knowledge, en masse?
Alexandra Chiasson, associate chair of the Interdisciplinary Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality and teaching assistant professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, has taught introductory English and reading-intensive gender studies classes and has noticed specific ways her students talk about reading and watching movies.
“I remember one student saying something like ‘[Gen Z watches movies now] because they gave us a social media for it,’ talking about Letterboxd,” Chiasson says. “Honestly most of them just talk about how they wish they had the attention span to watch and read more. I’m not sure if it’s because they yearn to make 100 books in a year content, or if they want to impress me, or if they actually want to read books. I would be ecstatic if my students only read one book in 2025 as long as it challenged them and expanded their worldview.”
Though the desire for reading as a form of self-improvement is there amongst young people, Chiasson says. “The idea is that they could always be better if they read more books and watch more movies, exercise more, eat better, and do a skincare routine. When I taught a literature course, I found out that at least five people in the class were listening to reading assignments as audiobooks at 2.0x speed. I was kind of horrified.”
We see that mindset reflected in social media challenges like 75 Hard, where participants are instructed to read 10 pages of a non-fiction book a day (specifically non-fiction, with an implied emphasis on self-help). Reading is not presented as something that opens you up to differing perspectives and encourages you to think critically and ask thoughtful questions about the world. Instead, it’s another tool to make you better in a capitalistic, productivity-obsessed way. It brings everything back to the individual: improve yourself, build a personal brand, make more money, be smarter, be healthier, be happier, and never slow down and think about anyone but yourself. And when you can’t, it’s your personal failing. You’re not disciplined enough.
There’s of course so much larger context here: Attention spans are, anecdotally, getting shorter and shorter. Friends say they can barely watch a TikTok all the way through without scrolling; kids (and adults) reach for screens when they’re bored instead of books or magazines.
Meanwhile, the political and social climate in the U.S. prioritizes quick and emotional opinions, overgeneralized statements, fear-mongering, disinformation, and anything that will polarize or provoke — anything that powerful people can exploit to grow their wealth and power at the expense of everyone else. Over 10,000 books were pulled off public school shelves last year as part of ongoing book bans fueled by far-right meddlers and those who seek to reduce access to information, and especially stories about the experiences of marginalized people.
Simultaneously, the book publishing industry is continuing to flounder; editors are underpaid and overworked, nonfiction books go un-fact checked, and the most commercially viable stories (often the ones we’ve heard before) tend to prevail over riskier works. (Though independent publishers and booksellers work hard to bridge the gaps). In this ecosystem, maybe we should just be happy anyone is reading anything at all.
