The other week, a student of mine told me they hated reading.
I flinched in my seat.
As someone who reads for leisure, I sometimes forget that not everyone finds the same joy in it. But I don’t think it’s reading they hate. I think our education system has drained the fun out of it.
We’ve built a culture where people read to find answers—instead of reading to ask better questions about themselves, others, and the world around them.
The way we read has changed. And maybe it’s time to ask:
Do we actually hate reading? Or do we hate how we’re reading, and why?
Reading looks different now.
It shows up in email newsletters like this. In Instagram captions. In audiobooks and podcasts. In texts from friends that make us pause and think.
To me, as long as you’re actively feeding your mind—engaging with language, stories, or new ideas—it counts.
Maybe it’s time we redefine what it means to read.
It’s not always a paperback book, though I still love a good novel.
The form has changed.
But the act of reading remains the same: it’s the process of discovering, absorbing, and opening yourself up to other ways of seeing the world.
That’s what reading is and why it matters now more than ever.
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I love this conversation. That’s one reason why I love, graphic novels, comic books, magazines, whatever. We can’t pretend that reading is only about novels by old, dead authors.