Reading is an important skill, yet it has become undervalued as people become addicted to social media and opt to watch movies more often. Literacy in America has declined, where 54 percent of adults have a literacy below a sixth grade level and 20 percent are below a fifth grade level. More and more students, ranging from elementary school to college, struggle with finishing reading a whole book.
Over the past few decades, older students are simply reading less. The Atlantic reported that in 1976, nearly 40 percent of high school seniors read at least six books within the year and less than 12 percent did not read any.
By 2022, those percentages had reversed. Less and less students and adults are reading, letting their attention spans dwindle. Instead, the average person spends 23 hours and 30 minutes on TikTok each month. This heavy use of social media has led to a phenomenon referred to online as “brain rot.”
Declining media literacy affects people’s ability to critically think and analyze information. On Tiktok, users have a hard time analyzing the key points of media, such as television shows, movies and books. Media literacy gives people the tools to read the content they consume closely. A well-informed reading is important because it can help people empathize with protagonists and gives the content real-life importance.
Reading also improves empathy. Some educators have reported that students respond to surveys claiming to emotionally resonate with the characters they read about. Reading can be more than a fun hobby, as it also improves mental health. In a study at the University of Sussex, researchers found that reading relaxes the body by lowering heart rate and easing tensions in the muscles, which reduces stress by up to 68 percent. Therefore, it can be an integral part of taking care of oneself. For those unsure of where to start, here are some recommendations!
“Intermezzo” by Sally Rooney:
“Intermezzo” is the latest book by Sally Rooney. It is about two brothers in Ireland who recently lost their father, following how they deal with the relationships between each other and their loved ones. This book has an accurate representation of complex familial relationships, as well as unconventional, age gap romantic relationships.
“The Iliad” by Homer:
This is an Ancient Greek epic poem that tells a story about the clash of two great civilizations and the effects of war on both the winners and the losers: the Greeks versus the Trojans. For college students, the best translation to read for modern audiences is Emily Wilson’s translation. Wilson translated the poem so that modern readers could experience the tale as if they were living in Ancient Greece. Major themes are war, honor, wrath, immorality versus humanity, and aggression. These themes suggest that violence and the threat of pain and death are facts of life.
“Wuthering Heights” by Emily Brontë:
This is a gothic novel about a family in Yorkshire moors, United Kingdom. It explores themes like domestic violence, seen through the relationship between Catherine and Heathcliff, and their families. It explores intergenerational trauma through the Earnshaw family and Linton families. This novel is more than a romance novel — it explores the cycles of trauma and abuse from childhood that lead to becoming an abuser in adulthood.
“Nightbitch” by Rachel Yoder:
This is a novel about a woman who is stressed out with her new role as a stay-at-home mother, so she believes she’s turning into a dog. She is exhausted and lonely as she takes on all the labor of taking care of a child, while envious that her husband doesn’t have to sacrifice his career and interests to have a family. This book explores themes of motherhood, identity loss and the societal expectations placed on women after they’ve become mothers.
“Small Things like These” by Claire Keegan:
This is a historical novella about a small Irish town at Christmas time in 1985. Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant, makes a delivery to a convent which forces him to face his past and the unspoken horrors controlled by the Church that happened at the Magdalene laundries. Ran by the Roman Catholic Church, the Magdalene laundries were asylums in Ireland where single women were forced there to do forced labor because they were pregnant out of wedlock. This book covers themes like love, loss, identity and family.
“Never Let Me Go” by Kazuo Ishiguro:
A dystopian sci-fi novel about a group of boarding school kids who uncover a big secret of their identity. This book explores themes of friendship, memories and what it means to be human.
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky:
This is a coming of age story about 15-year-old Charlie, a shy student, entering his freshman year of high school who befriends a cool group of seniors. Having recently lost his best friend to suicide, he finds comfort in his new friend group while grieving. This book tackles themes of queerness and homophobia through the character of Patrick, Charlie’s gay friend. The novel also sensitively tackles themes of depression and sexual abuse.
“Queenie” by Candice Carty-Williams:
A novel about the life and lovelife of Queenie — a lively, yet troubled 25-year-old British-Jamaican woman, who is on a post-breakup journey after her long-term boyfriend. The book explores Queenie trying to find her identity, as she seeks comfort in new relationships and work. This book also tackles themes of racism in the United Kingdom, dealing with anxiety, childhood trauma, and experiences of sexual violence and objectification.
