We Need a Literacy Revival, Stat.
Image Courtesy: ABC News
Breaking news: 25-years-old internet celebrity, Alix Earle, reveals she has never read a book, adding “proud illiterate” to her Wikipedia resume.
We did it Joe, we have entered another societal low. But fear not, Earle is merely one of the many literacy offenders.
Since the beginning of social media and influencers, we have seen a society that inches farther away from a high functioning literate world. We consume and then we over consume, we sit glued to our phones watching people we envy live an unattainable life. And above all, barely any of us read anymore. Or write, for that matter.
Reading and writing, for many, feels like a chore; something you only complete when it’s assigned to you for a grade. Now of course I am not speaking of you, dear reader, because you, unlike some, decided to click on this article and read it of your own volition.
I am speaking of the growing number of young people who consume mass amounts of everything else and leave the reading for when it’s only mandatory–or for when it's the generated response to a ChatGPT prompt they entered.
According to a recent analysis by the National Literary Institute, 54% of adults in the United States are reading below a 6th-grade level.
Sigh. I’m sorry, but are we really surprised?
Literacy dies in the way we speak, the way we text or email, and even in the music we listen to. Suddenly artists known for their masterful lyricism are churning out over-produced ear garbage with lyrics that make zero sense.
For example, as someone who lived and breathed Taylor Swift lyrics back in 2022, I can without a doubt say that I now have an album cutoff for her discography, as the lyrical regression has become undeniable.
Suddenly we went from lyrics like 2020’s masterpiece “cowboy like me”: “Now you hang from my lips/Like the Gardens of Babylon/With your boots beneath my bed/Forever is the sweetest con”, to one of her most recent 2025 releases titled “Wood”: “Forgive me, it sounds cocky/He ah-matized me and opened my eyes/Redwood tree, it ain't hard to see/His love was the key that opened my thighs”...
I’ll leave it at that.
Besides internet celebrities coming right out and announcing their 25 year (and counting) reading sobriety, we can also see it in popular reality television.
If anyone watches reality TV, maybe you already can anticipate what I am going to refer to. Seasons 7 and 8 of Love Island USA are a fantastic example of the literacy crisis. From poorly pronounced words to analogies and “metaphors” that make the blabbing of a five-year-old seem profound.
The adults of Love Island USA were found to not only mispronounce and misuse words, but also get basic facts in their own previous fields of study, incorrect. And yet, the show is and remains, a television hit.
Thinking about it now, we have really only seen reading representation for the older generations like in the film Book Club. Never do we see young people engage in literacy as a group. It is often represented as the “lone wolf” activity or something only the snotty, uppity characters do.
Choosing not to read doesn't make you any better than anyone else. Many of us can, most of us would rather not. And let’s not forget to mention the privilege of literacy in the US, the privilege it is that women get to be literate.
Celebrities who use their platform for good and encourage reading and writing are some of the most beloved, Dolly Parton, Michelle Obama, Emma Watson, Malala Yousafzai. Some celebrities even started their own nationwide book clubs such as Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Dua Lipa, Laufey, and more (for more information see the links below).
So how come we constantly see celebrities that do the opposite? Why is it that the most famous influencers are the ones actively setting women and young people back? Maybe it’s how we as a society consume, how our algorithms work and what we decide as consumers to be the “easy route”.
A jarring amount of young adults wish that above all, they could be a celebrity or an influencer. A job that requires no educational background, previous credentials or proof of literacy.
In the midst of book banning and the decline of reading for pleasure, thankfully we can see some progress. More and more Gen-Z and Millennial aged adults are finding themselves in bookclubs, myself included. Small bookstores foster environments where young adults are encouraged to form connections and engage over literature. Reading, writing, creativity, imagination; it doesn't have to disappear as we get older.
We just need to look to the right role models, the ones encouraging us to read, to think and explore.
And if you’ve read this far, consider joining a book club or starting one of your own. Meet once a month, eat some snacks, get to know the book and the people it brought to you. Literacy is a privilege and a right, it is fundamental to many learning paths and it should continue to be an integral part of our world and how we function.
Links to celebrity book clubs and foundations:
Reese Witherspoon: https://reesesbookclub.com/
Oprah Winfrey: https://www.oprah.com/app/books.html
Jenna Bush Hager: https://www.today.com
Laufey: https://www.instagram.com/laufeybookclub/?hl=en
Dua Lipa: https://www.service95.com
Dolly Parton: https://imaginationlibrary.com/
Emma Watson Partnership: https://ibelieveinbookfairies.com/
Celebrity Reads: https://blog.zigazoo.com/celebrityreads/
Strike out,
Madeline Dertouzos
Boca Raton
Madeline Dertouzos is a content writer for Strike Magazine Boca. She’s an extroverted introvert who will probably ask to see your birth chart within a few minutes of meeting you. If she's not buying another book she doesn't need or drinking her third coffee of the day, she is definitely with her cat Olive (just ask, she will show you pictures). You can reach her at dertouzosmadeline@gmail.com or on Instagram @madelinedertouzos.
