Washington: Almost 25% of adults have not read a book over the past one year, says Pew Research Center. The staggering statistics show how drastically reading habit have declined. When Americans are asked what keeps them from reading more books, more than 51% cite lack of time as a major factor. Only 16% say lack of interest in reading; 14% cite a lack of quality books, reports USA Today.
Given more time, they would be reading Murakami, Franzen, Oates, and Lahiri. Literature has been linked to making better people. Those at 75 and above read an hour per weekend day and played games for 20 minutes, using a computer for leisure. But teenagers read for an average of seven minutes per weekend and play games for an hour.
The silver lining is e-readers and tablets are spurring people to read more books. People who had either an e-book or tablet read more books than people who didn’t. And nearly 40% of Americans aged 18-39 had a reader, and can get them back to the books.