Americans used to read. Not everyone, not perfectly, but reading for pleasure used to be something most people did. Not anymore.

The number of Americans who read for fun has dropped every single year for the last 20 years. And it’s not because books got worse. I think it’s because they’re not as easy as social media.

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Meanwhile, 44% of American adults didn’t open a single book last year. Not one.

Now, I’m not romanticizing the past. Reading books and newspapers didn’t make everything perfect. But it did help.

I wonder what happens to a country that stops reading — not because it can’t afford books, but because it forgot why they matter.

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