The barriers I realized in reading for college students, and some ways we can solve them
I think it is safe to say we have all, at some point, been the recipients of comments from older generations about how much this new generation has declined intellectually, lost their attention spans, and can’t think for themselves. In other words, the typical backlash against “Gen-Z”.
At one point, I fully disagreed. I mean, being a college student at UVA, I see every day how hardworking everyone around me really is; it is almost daily that I am hearing about the millions of plans and goals my classmates are either in the process of completing or have upcoming. So, for the longest time, I was under the impression that these comments were just meaningless generalizations made by bitter people.
Now, I hate to admit it, but I recently came across a TikTok that might have shifted this firm belief of mine.
The video was not that complicated, portraying a guy asking how anyone could enjoy “looking at words on paper.” Or in other words, questioning the (apparently bizarre) act of… reading.
He was so utterly serious, and I was so utterly speechless. Here I was, looking down at my phone, reading someone complaining about books, which, I thought, were such a normal source of knowledge and entertainment.
Now, I am not an avid, die-hard reader, and I honestly wish I were, but still, I was shocked. Shocked enough to the point where the whole principle hasn’t left my mind.
I started thinking about reading and our generation’s experience with it. Here’s why I think so many people in our generation have a reading issue, and some personal insight/advice on what we can do about it.
THE PROBLEMS + MY Solutions
While I am no expert, I am a student who has lived this firsthand, being someone who once loved reading, drifted away from it longer than I’d like to admit, and eventually found my way back. Rebuilding the habit reminded me of just how much I missed it. I hope that by addressing why so many of us have fallen out of reading, and how we can realistically get back to it, at least one other person might be inspired to rediscover something they never meant to give up.
Problem 1. Reading Equating to homework
One of the most obvious reasons for the reading decline is the sheer volume of assigned readings that college students, especially those in the humanities, are expected to complete. While these assignments exist to prepare students and supplement lectures, the overwhelming amount of them can actually have the opposite effect on students’ willingness to pick up a book outside of designated study/class time. At UVA, it is not uncommon to hear students talk about 60-plus page readings for a single class in a single week. I have my own personal experience with this, and I am only a first-year student completing my disciplines. This consistent association with the act of reading and deadlines for classes can be off-putting for students, starting to feel like an obligation rather than a pastime.
Solution: I’ve had to make peace with the fact that assigned readings are built for information retention over enjoyability. rather than actually enjoying the process. If I approached every course reading for every class slowly and attentively (as readers typically have a habit of doing), I would not have time for anything else. I suggest skim-reading and finding summaries or commentaries on assigned material, and using the time you reclaim to pick up something you actually want to read about a subject you enjoy. If your classes somehow assign readings you would’ve picked up on your own regardless, consider yourself lucky! As a side note, professors would do well to recognize that today’s students find themselves with access to endless variations of mixed media (podcasts, YouTube videos, infographics, video essays), a stray away from the typical never-ending pdf would be a nice change of pace for many students.
Problem 2. why Read If I have an AI Summary?
I do suggest skim-reading and finding summaries for assigned readings that may not be high on priority; however, once one gets used to this, that can also be a silent-killer for reading. I am most definitely not the first to say it, but AI has really changed the game for many aspects of life, one of them being the reading world. There was a time where buying an overpriced book was a given, an unavoidable fact taken into account in a college student’s budget. Now, even when textbooks are technically still required, the temptation to pull up a free AI summary that says the same thing for no cost with a fraction of the words is as high as ever. The issue is that too much reliance on AI and its convenience gives up the love of reading as well.
Solution: My honest advice here is less of a study tip and more of a mindset shift. Essentially, as I mentioned previously, AI summaries can be useful, but there is fine print that needs to be addressed. They are of benefit, but only when the material you’re glossing over genuinely has no place in your future. The key is being intentional about that distinction rather than just defaulting to whatever is fastest. If you rely on AI for everything, you stop challenging yourself without even realizing it. The habit of reading fades quietly, leading you to rarely pick up a book unless something forces you to. On the other hand, if you reject AI entirely and grind through every reading exhaustively, you risk burning out, and a burned-out student is just as unlikely to read for pleasure as one who never opened a page to begin with. Both extremes lead to the same outcome.
The balance I’d suggest is this: for classes where the content is draining, repetitive, or you deem is irrelevant to anything you care about, use AI where it’s permitted and don’t feel guilty about it. Protect your energy and time. But for classes where the material genuinely interests you, even if the temptation to shortcut it is still there, resist it. Actually read. Sit with it. Actually engaging with content you’re curious about, even in academic settings, is what slowly rebuilds the reading muscle. When I stopped treating every assigned reading like something to just get done and started visiting the ones I cared about and with real effort, my enjoyment and habit of reading came back
Problem 3. There is Simply no time
This one is self-explanatory. Busy schedules, packed to-do lists, and the general chaos of being a student have made it difficult for our generation to find the time to do something as leisurely as reading.
Solution: The answer, at least for me, has been to allocate a certain time each day for reading. The same way most of us somehow always find time for lunch, a skincare routine, or whatever else we’ve decided is non-negotiable in our day, reading can be treated the same way. Now, obviously, we need to find the time first, and it should not have to be said that this ideal time will differ for everyone. What worked for me was that I started reaching for my book whenever I noticed myself mindlessly scrolling. Not in a dramatic, deleting-all-my-apps, digital detox kind of way. I still scroll, and I’m not suggesting you stop either (that’s an extreme I personally can’t imagine doing). However, swapping even half of that time for a few pages made a difference. It can be useful to replace one passive hobby that isn’t really doing anything for you, for one that does.
Problem 4. Finding books has become something planned, not natural
This one is a little less obvious, but it is still worth naming. The rise of online shopping and instant delivery services has changed the way we interact with discovering books. Namely, it reduced the urge for people to go out and physically shop, and theoretically, to stop by a bookstore as well. There was something almost accidental about the old way of stumbling into a bookstore. You were already out running errands, you passed by, you wandered in, and you left with something you never planned to buy. That kind of spontaneous discovery is largely gone now. Amazon is a big name that comes to mind almost immediately. The idea of spending hours searching for a book in a store and coming across new reads during the process has been cut down to a simple search, clicking to pay, and direct delivery. Buying a book has either become a task to complete online or an occasion. People schedule days to go to the bookstore with friends or on bookstore dates, because that is not the casual answer to buying a book anymore. The casual has become the click-to-order. I’ll acknowledge this is the most indirect link in my analysis, but I noticed it personally, and I think it’s a point worth making.
Solution: This is one of those problems where the solution is both obvious and largely out of our hands. No one is getting rid of Amazon (and I am definitely not suggesting that). Although what we can control is making the occasional conscious choice to just stop by. On a slow errand day, on the walk back from class, whenever the opportunity presents itself, we decide to go to a bookstore and treat it as a task that does not require much effort. You don’t need a plan. You just have to walk in. In my experience, the reward of finding something genuinely interesting entirely on your own terms (without an algorithm or recommendation) is worth it and pushes you to enjoy the read more.
OVERALL
I recognize that everything I’ve laid out here is easier said than done, and I want to be clear that I’m not standing at a finish line looking back. I’m somewhere in the middle of it, too. Reading should feel like an escape, not another obligation stacked onto an already overwhelming list, and I understand that branding it through “solutions” can make it feel like exactly that. But since I’ve rediscovered books, I’ve also rediscovered that nothing replaces the feeling of being genuinely absorbed in something you chose entirely for yourself. Not a summary, not an assignment, not a recommendation you felt pressured to follow through on, but literally just a book you actually wanted to read.
As for the commentary from older generations, I don’t expect it to disappear the moment we each pick up a book. But they should not be the reason we pick it up in the first place. Reading should be a choice made on your own terms, and I hope that anything I mentioned here made that choice feel even a little more reachable.