But of all the obstacles to improving reading, many attribute the greatest blame to technology.
“It’s a generational shift — text is less important [to young people] than video and audio,” says Douglas McCabe, chief executive and director of publishing at Enders Analysis.
“Tech is the biggest barrier,” agrees Sandown’s Tugwell. “They’re all on all the apps that they’re not old enough to be on, they all have WhatsApp, they’re all in massive group chats. They tell us they go on [their] X-Box [instead of reading].”