--- title: Americans Read 19 Minutes per Day description: New research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics canonical: https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/ author: Bijan Stephen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-06-22T21:13:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:11:01.648Z og:title: Americans Read 19 Minutes per Day og:description: New research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics og:url: https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Americans Read 19 Minutes per Day twitter:description: New research from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # You Won't Believe How Little Americans Read by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jun 22, 2014 9:13 PM UTC by [Bijan Stephen](https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/) ## Bijan Stephen Jun 22, 2014 9:13 PM UTC Since the arrival of Gutenberg’s printing press in 1450, the primacy of the written word — as a means of distributing information, for delivering pleasure — has been mostly unquestioned. But with the rise of radio, television, and now the Internet, print’s reign has come under fire, and is perhaps approaching an end. A recent study from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that the average American spends only [19 minutes a day reading](http://mic.com/articles/91697/you-ll-be-shocked-at-how-much-time-per-day-young-people-spend-reading); young people read less than ever, apparently, with people ages 25 to 34 reading eight minutes a day on weekends and holidays, while those 20 to 24 average around 10\. This, of course, is a decline: a report from Common Sense Media found that 45% of 17-year-olds admit only reading for pleasure a few times a year — up from 19% in 1984. The causes implicated were obvious, naturally having to do with the ubiquitous presence of screens in our lives. Is this progress? It’s hard to say. Vox has some [pretty charts](http://www.vox.com/2014/4/11/5553006/how-americans-spend-their-time-in-6-charts) that’ll help you decide for yourself. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/"},"headline":"You Won't Believe How Little Americans Read","datePublished":"2014-06-22T21:13:27.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:11:01.648Z","description":"A paltry 19 minutes a day","url":"https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/","keywords":["Newsfeed","America","reading","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Bijan Stephen","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/bijan-stephen/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2909743/americans-reading/","name":"You Won't Believe How Little Americans Read"}}]}] ```