--- title: A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore description: A third of U.S. teenagers say they haven't read a book for pleasure in a year, according to an American Psychological Association study. canonical: https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-08-20T14:31:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:13.419Z article:section: Health og:title: A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore og:description: But social media use is on the rise og:url: https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0192cfb3052c1e8/6989380be76ad299c2632c3d/library.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 7200 og:image:height: 4050 og:image:alt: Books on bookshelves og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore twitter:description: But social media use is on the rise twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0192cfb3052c1e8/6989380be76ad299c2632c3d/library.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=7fe67933-af30-479e-ad74-e092183cbc21&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Ex Google and Facebook Employees Are Banding Together to Protect Kids From Social Media Addiction [Watch (HLS stream): Ex Google and Facebook Employees Are Banding Together to Protect Kids From Social Media Addiction](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kOCMP9om.m3u8) (1:15)  _Published 2018-02-05. A group of tech experts who used to work at companies like Facebook and Google have founded an organization to to raise awareness about what they believe are the negative effects of social media and technology on society_  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 20, 2018 2:31 PM UTC  Books on bookshelves Books on bookshelves Johner Images—Getty Images/Johner RF  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Aug 20, 2018 2:31 PM UTC A third of U.S. teenagers haven’t read a book for pleasure in at least a year, according to a new survey from the American Psychological Association (APA). And it’s not because they’re too busy watching TV. The research, [published in the journal _Psychology of Popular Media Culture_](http://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-41062-001), points to the continuing dominance of digital media among teenagers. Teen use of traditional media — such as books, magazines and television — has dropped off, while time spent texting, scrolling through social media and using other forms of digital media continues to increase, the survey says. To reach their conclusions, APA researchers analyzed data from the [Monitoring the Future study](http://www.monitoringthefuture.org/), an ongoing annual survey of around 50,000 eighth, 10th and 12th graders. The study included survey responses from 1976 to 2016. By 2016, just 2% of 10th graders said they read a newspaper almost every day, and just 16% of 12th graders reported reading a book or magazine almost every day. About a third of 12th graders also said they had not read a book or e-book for pleasure in the last year — which is about triple the number who said so in the 1970s. Even television and movie consumption is declining, the research shows. Thirteen percent of eighth graders said they watched five or more hours of television per day in 2016, compared to 22% in the 1990s. Digital media has largely supplanted these more traditional forms of media among teenagers, the data shows. As of the mid-2010s, the average 12th grader reported spending about six hours per day using digital media — roughly two hours each texting, surfing the internet and using social media. Tenth graders reported an average of five hours of use per day, while eighth graders reported an average of four hours per day. ## Transcript [00:24] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [00:28] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/"},"headline":"A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore","datePublished":"2018-08-20T14:31:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:53:13.419Z","description":"But social media use is on the rise","url":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/","keywords":["Research","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0192cfb3052c1e8/6989380be76ad299c2632c3d/library.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd0192cfb3052c1e8/6989380be76ad299c2632c3d/library.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Books on bookshelves","caption":"Books on bookshelves","creditText":"Johner Images—Getty Images/Johner RF","representativeOfPage":true}],"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":"https://time.com/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/research/","name":"Research"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/","name":"A Third of Teenagers Don't Read Books for Pleasure Anymore"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Ex Google and Facebook Employees Are Banding Together to Protect Kids From Social Media Addiction","description":"A group of tech experts who used to work at companies like Facebook and Google have founded an organization to to raise awareness about what they believe are the negative effects of social media and technology on society","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/kOCMP9om/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-02-05T16:15:19.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/kOCMP9om.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/","duration":"PT1M15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5371053/teenagers-books-social-media/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```