Entertainment and the arts are undergoing what might be termed a Great Simplification…
— from “Is society growing stupider?” by James Marriott in The Washington Post, October 7, 2026.
I noticed some comments from Ruby Sisson Library Assistant Director Taylor Worsham, in her October 8 column in the weekly Pagosa Springs SUN…
The August 2026 issue of ‘Atlantic’ magazine featured an apocalyptic cover with the headline “The Age of Reading Is Over.” Rose Horowitch’s argument is quite shocking: society is entering a “post-literate” age where sustained reading of long-form books is in steep decline. Horowitch cites statistics from the American Time Use Survey, like the proportion of Americans who read for pleasure on any given day fell from 28 percent in 2004 to 16 percent in 2023…
…The Ruby Sisson Library continues to purchase new and classic titles, for all ages, reading abilities, and interests. Reading is a foundational skill; it can be a transformative experience; and truly is a forever pastime.
While the rest of America is getting more “post-literate” by the day, the residents of small-town Pagosa Springs are still reading books. Reportedly.
Or at least, residents are still borrowing books from the library. Whether they actually read those books is another story, if you will excuse the pun. Speaking for myself, I typically check out a couple of books from the library every week. But when I get them home and read the first three or four pages, I can quickly tell that it’s going to be too much work.
Watching movies on Netflix is so much easier. And faster. Okay, sure, I feel stupider afterwards, but the feeling doesn’t last.
But regardless of the active circulation of books through our local library, we’re living through a big cultural shift — elsewhere, out in the real world — away from well-written books to reading social media posts about what your “friend” Cindy had for lunch. Regardless of the fact that you and Cindy haven’t met face-to-face since your senior year in high school.
Ms. Horowitch is not the only writer concerned about the decline in reading.
An article I came across last week, written by James Marriott, was adapted from his recent book, “The New Dark Ages: The Death of Reading and the Dawn of the Post-Literate Society.”
“Post-Literate Society” sounds so ominous, when he puts it like that. Dark Ages. Death.
Once upon a time, the idea that the world was growing stupider was mostly confined to the realm of dyspeptic reactionary polemic. But nowadays, the idea is increasingly mainstream. The belief that smartphones are “rotting our brains” is a widely repeated cliché. Data seems to corroborate this feeling, too: Studies have shown declines in IQ over the past two decades, with the sharpest drops among age brackets that use their phones the most…
I shutter to think how many people read Mr. Marriott’s article on their phones. Because that’s how I read it.
But I don’t believe I’m in the fatal “age bracket” where IQs are falling the fastest. I’m sure he means, like, teenagers and twenty-somethings. Nevertheless, my IQ has definitely fallen over the past couple of years. How can I tell? I can’t manage to read an entire book.
A comic book, I could probably get through. Probably.
My main complaint — considering my declining IQ — focuses on the people like James Marriott, who have written books and seem to think that “reading a book” is the highest form of human activity. Which they would naturally think, because they desperately want people to read their books. These writers are trying to make me feel guilty about not reading books, but I’m not falling for it.
I can easily imagine Mr. Marriott’s books contain phrases like “the realm of dyspeptic reactionary polemic.” That’s a perfectly good reason, right there, to avoid reading his books.
According to Ms. Horowitch, the percentage of people, in 2004, who read all or part of a book on a given day was 28%. (In my case, it would have been “part of a book”. Likely, like, the first three or four pages.) 2004 was several years before the arrival of the iPhone and the explosion of social media. Even then, only about 1 in 4 people were reading books regularly. Now it’s about 1 in 6. What’s the big deal, I ask. So maybe two extra people have given up reading books, and have realized that they can get entertained in a much shorter span of time on YouTube.
And speaking of time, the great statesman and scientist Benjamin Franklin once wrote: “A stitch in time saves nine.”
But people don’t stitch anymore. I get a hole in my sweater, and I just throw it away and buy a new one.
Neither Ms. Horowitch nor Mr. Marriott wrote anything about our declining IQs being related to the lack of stitching. But obviously, in the 1700s, stitching was important enough to inspire an aphorism by one of the most intelligent men in American history.
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.