Podcast Summary: In Our Time — "While you wait: The Death of Reading" (The Global Story)

Original Broadcast: January 29, 2026
Host: BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time (guest episode from The Global Story)
Hosts (The Global Story): Tristan Redman, Asma Khalid
Guest: James Marriott, Opinion Columnist at The Times (London)

Overview of Episode Theme

This episode interrogates the provocative idea of "the death of reading" and what it could mean for society, culture, and democracy. James Marriott, a prominent columnist, argues that we are entering a "post-literate" age—a time when deep reading and engagement with lengthy, complex texts are increasingly rare, with potentially far-reaching consequences. The discussion traces the history of literacy, how it revolutionized society, and considers what might be lost as reading declines in the era of smartphones, digital media, and attention scarcity.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Diminishing Practice of Deep Reading

• Opening Provocation
  The episode opens reflecting on how hard it has become to read a book without interruptions, especially from our phones.
  “When was the last time you opened a book and you were able to really concentrate on it? No interruptions for more than five or 10 minutes, no scrolling on your phone between paragraphs...” (Tristan Redman, 01:48)

• Evidence of Decline
  James Marriott cites studies showing a dramatic drop in adults reading for pleasure in both the US and UK:
  “…40% of American adults had stopped reading for pleasure. There was a similar study in the UK that found, I think, about a third of British adults said they once read for pleasure and no longer did…” (James Marriott, 05:31)

2. What is "Post-Literacy"?

• Marriott defines “post-literate” as not illiteracy, but rather a state where reading and print culture are no longer central to society’s discourse.
  “…the means through which we've conducted ourselves as a society has been print… What’s happening is that that literate world… is being replaced by a world that is aural and visual. And that is a huge transformation for our society.” (James Marriott, 06:59)

• Audiovisual media is not per se bad, Marriott insists, but each medium shapes the way we think and communicate:
  “…the particular biases… are inherent in certain media of communication… one of the things that reading and writing and literacy does is that it expands our range of available thoughts.” (James Marriott, 08:17)

3. The Rise of Literacy – "The Reading Revolution" (18th Century)

• Marriott recounts the “reading revolution” in the 18th century, when reading ceased being an elite activity and became widespread.
  “…in the early years of the 18th century… for virtually the first time in history, in a serious way, ordinary people have access to the kinds of knowledge contained in books. And this has, I think, really revolutionary social implications…” (James Marriott, 10:24)

• This democratization of knowledge contributed directly to political and societal revolutions:
  “…a state that had been able to present an idea of itself as glorious… was suddenly undermined by information that was leaking out of it and being read by ordinary people in the street…” (James Marriott, 12:21)

4. The "Counter-Revolution": The Fall of Reading in the Digital Age

• Marriott refers to the digital era as a “counter-revolution,” with reading and literacy rates stagnating or declining even in developed countries.
  “There was a report… published by the OECD, which found that literacy was declining or stagnating in most developed countries, which is a really remarkable thing to find.” (James Marriott, 14:04)

• He ties this to cognitive decline:
  “…American high school students' skills in maths, science and literacy are now at their lowest level on record. There have been various measures of reasoning ability that seem to be falling. PISA scores… have been falling since about the mid 2010s…” (James Marriott, 14:04)

• Universities increasingly give up assigning full books, even for literature courses:
  “…professors even teaching English literature and even at prestigious universities… will assign their students books and not expect their students to be able to finish those books.” (James Marriott, 14:04)

5. Consequences for Education, Culture, and Democracy

Education

• Reading is foundational for concentration, reasoning, and the transmission of complex ideas and culture.

Democracy

• Democracy, as practiced, depends on literate societies:
  “…modern democracy as we know it is a historically contingent phenomenon that grew up in a particular time and a particular place and a particular culture. And that culture was the highly literate societies of the 18th and 19th centuries.” (James Marriott, 19:41)

• Visual/emotional communication (as in TikTok, oratory) privileges charisma over logic—print, for all its faults, compels logical argument:
  “…when you communicate in person, or… on TikTok or even a podcast, you have a whole range of means of communication… not necessarily perfectly logical. …What print did… was that it removed our access to those illogical forms of communication.” (James Marriott, 21:28)

Access to Information in the Age of the Internet

• Counterpoint: The internet has further democratized information, removing barriers for publication.
• Marriott’s reply: While more people can publish, reliable information is actually less accessible, and misinformation spreads more widely in digital, algorithm-driven ecosystems:
  “…the effect of it has been much less democratic than it seems, because I think the average person's access to reliable information has fallen off a cliff since the invention of the internet…” (James Marriott, 23:57)

6. Who Controls Knowledge Now?

• Traditional "gatekeepers" (news media, broadcasters) are replaced by algorithms optimized for engagement, not truth:
  “…the gatekeepers are now people sitting in Silicon Valley whose only aim is, is to increase the amount of time that you spend on your phone and… the way to do that is to promote content that is angrier, that is more emotional, that is more full of outrage…” (James Marriott, 27:26)

7. Is There a Solution? Can We Go Back?

• James Marriott has personally given up his smartphone, but sees it as unrealistic for most:
  “…for a lot of people having a smartphone, I find this really pretty sinister, has become virtually compulsory… I would say it's worth thinking about how much of a positive impact your smartphone is having in your life and thinking about whether you can afford to get rid of it…” (James Marriott, 27:34)

• Suggestion: Even a minority choosing to opt out could form an influential counterculture.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Deep Reading’s Challenges:
  “When was the last time you opened a book and... really concentrate on it? No interruptions for more than five or 10 minutes, no scrolling on your phone between paragraphs.” (Tristan Redman, 01:48)

• Defining the Shift:
  “The argument is that for the last 300 years, the central mode of communication in our culture … has been print… that is being replaced by a world that is aural and visual. And that is a huge transformation for our society.” (James Marriott, 06:59)

• Print vs. Orality:
  “...If Immanuel Kant had woken up one morning at the end of the 18th century and decided to speak the Critique of Pure Reason, he couldn't have done it. …A book that's 700 pages long and deeply intellectually complex can't simply be produced by speaking it.” (James Marriott, 08:12)

• On the new digital gatekeepers:
  “It feels democratic because anybody can do it. Actually... the gatekeepers are now people sitting in Silicon Valley whose only aim is to increase the amount of time that you spend on your phone… the way to do that is to promote content that is angrier, that is more emotional, that is more full of outrage.” (James Marriott, 27:26)

• Neil Postman’s Warning:
  “George Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us, and Aldous Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. …the overload of information we all get from the Internet feels sometimes like a sea of irrelevance.” (Tristan Redman, 30:25)

Timestamps for Key Segments

• The Decline of Reading & Post-Literacy Defined (04:33–06:59)
• Audiovisual Media’s Rise and What’s Lost (07:50–09:59)
• History: The Reading Revolution of the 18th Century (10:24–12:21)
• Reading’s Political and Social Impact (12:21–13:41)
• The Counter-Revolution: Digital Age Declines (14:04–17:19)
• Democracy & Access to Reliable Information (19:27–27:26)
• Solutions and Personal Strategies (27:34–28:28)
• Host Reflections and Personal Experiences (29:14–30:25)

Tone and Closing Reflections

The discussion is thoughtful, sometimes urgent, occasionally wry or self-aware. Marriott is clear-eyed, worried but not alarmist, and the hosts provide balance—Asma Khalid in particular acts as a friendly skeptic who champions the potential democratizing force of the internet while acknowledging digital media’s pitfalls. Both hosts end by sharing their own struggles—and small successes—in carving out space for reading in their lives.

“I found myself a few years ago feeling frustrated that I just wasn't reading novels anymore. So I decided to create a book club…” (Asma Khalid, 29:31)

“…if I read in the bath, it is a captive location to read and I cannot reach my phone and that forces me to read…” (Tristan Redman, 30:01)

Conclusion

This episode raises urgent and provocative questions: What is lost as reading vanishes from daily life? Is an information-rich world also a knowledge-rich one? Is it possible to recreate the intellectual conditions that gave rise to revolutions and democracy—without print culture at the center? While the guests and hosts recognize the benefits of digital life, they leave listeners with a warning: that without sustained, reflective reading—and the logical habits it reinforces—society, democracy, and personal fulfillment are all at risk of erosion in the “sea of irrelevance.”

For further listening or reading:

• James Marriott’s Substack essay: "The Dawn of the Post Literate Society"
• Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves to Death”
• OECD and PISA studies on literacy and global education trends