If you want to read more books, you are not alone, and you are not lazy. Fewer people read for fun on any given day than they did twenty years ago. The fix is less about trying harder and more about making reading the easy option.
Fewer people read for fun than they used to
A 2025 study published in the journal iScience looked at more than 236,000 Americans in the American Time Use Survey between 2003 and 2023. The share of people who read for pleasure on an average day fell from 28% in 2004 to about 16% in 2023. One of the co-authors, Jill Sonke, described it as "a sustained, steady decline of about 3% per year."
The researchers did not study the causes. They did name some likely suspects, though: digital media, economic pressure, less leisure time, and uneven access to books and libraries.
There was one interesting wrinkle. Among people who still read, time spent reading went up slightly. The lead author, Jessica Bone, said this "may suggest a polarization, where some people are reading more while many have stopped reading altogether."
So the gap is not really between smart people and everyone else. It is between people who have kept reading in their day and people whose day got filled with other things.
Why "just be more disciplined" doesn't work
Most advice on reading more is about motivation: set a big goal, join a challenge, commit harder. That can work for a few weeks. Then real life shows up.
The problem is that reading is competing with things that take zero effort to start. A phone is already in your hand. A show plays the next episode for you. A book asks you to find it, open it, remember where you were, and focus.
If reading keeps losing, it is usually losing on convenience, not on value. That is good news, because convenience is something you can change.
How to read more instead of scrolling
1. Read before you check your phone
Pick one moment in the day and give it to a book before the phone gets a look. First thing in the morning, the first ten minutes of your lunch break, or the first ten minutes in bed. Once you open a feed, a book has a hard time winning you back. Going first gives it a fair shot.
2. Keep a book where you already sit
Put a book on the couch, the bedside table, your bag, and your desk. It sounds too simple to matter, but the fewer steps between you and the first page, the more often you will read it.
3. Aim for minutes, not pages or books
"Read 52 books this year" is a scoreboard, not a plan. "Read for 10 minutes after dinner" is something you can do tonight. Short sessions add up, and they often turn into longer ones once you are into the story.
4. Quit books you don't like
You do not owe a book anything. If you are dreading picking it up, that book is quietly stopping you from reading anything at all. Put it down and choose something you actually want to read next. A good rule of thumb: if you are 50 pages in and still bored, move on.
5. Read what you enjoy, not what you think you should
Thrillers, romance, fantasy, graphic novels, memoirs, whatever pulls you in counts. People build a habit by enjoying it. You can always get to the classics later, and you will be a stronger reader when you do.
6. Let audiobooks and ebooks count
The American Time Use Survey question behind that 2025 study gave e-books and audiobooks as examples of reading for pleasure, alongside print. Listening on a commute or a walk is a real way to get through more books. Use whatever format fits the moment you have.
7. Always know what you're reading next
A lot of reading streaks die in the gap between books. Keep a short list of two or three books you are excited about, so finishing one leads straight into the next.
8. Make it social
The same researchers pointed to book groups and more accessible libraries as ways to make reading "a more social and supported activity." A book club, a friend reading the same book, or even telling someone what you are reading gives you a small reason to keep going.
A simple one-week plan
You don't need a reading overhaul. Try this for seven days:
- Day 1: Pick one book you genuinely want to read. Not an "improving" one. One you are curious about.
- Day 2: Choose your reading moment, and put the book right where that moment happens.
- Days 2 to 7: Read for 10 minutes in that moment before you open your phone. If you want to keep going, keep going. If not, stop at 10.
- Day 4: Check in. If you are dreading the book, swap it. No guilt.
- Day 7: Add a second moment if the first one stuck, like an audiobook on your commute.
At the end of the week, don't count pages. Just ask whether reading felt easier to start than it did on day one. If it did, you are building the habit.
The short version
To read more books, stop relying on willpower and start removing friction. Read before you scroll, keep a book within reach, read in small sessions, quit books you don't enjoy, and let every format count. Small, easy sessions beat big goals that fizzle out.
Read First
If the phone keeps winning the first few minutes of your day, Read First is built for exactly that: reading before you scroll.