One of my daily challenges as a parent is getting my fourth grader to read for 30 minutes as part of her homework.

It’s not because she struggles with her reading skills; she actually reads well-above grade level. Like many kids of her generation, though, my daughter has zero interest in picking up a book. Why would she, when she’s got an iPad offering her nonstop entertainment via videos expertly designed for her short attention span?

Allie, a mother of three in Connecticut who asked to use just her first name to protect her privacy, can relate: While she confirmed all of her kids can read and write at grade level, she told HuffPost that “they just don’t WANT to.” Allie believes the prevalence of screens is “a huge factor” when it comes to her kids’ lack of interest in reading. “Books can’t compete with screens,” she lamented.

But Allie has also noticed some potential long-term effects stemming from her kids’ reading indifference: She said that when her teenage son took a private school entrance exam, “his reading/vocab section was abysmally low.” And this was despite getting A’s in English honors classes! “Because he wasn’t reading recreationally,” Allie observed, “he wasn’t being exposed to enough opportunities to ‘absorb’ new vocabulary and exercise his reading comprehension skills.”

It’s not just my daughter or Allie’s kids who are exhibiting reading apathy; there has been a steady decline over the past 40 years. Thirty-one percent of 13-year-olds reported in 2023 that they “never or hardly ever” read for fun. This is compared with the 29% reported in 2020 and the 8% reported in 1984. In addition, only 30% of eighth graders in the United States read at or above the proficient level, with one-third of 12th graders lacking basic reading skills.

For Gen X parents like myself and Allie, who were raised on the “take a look, it’s in a book” approach, it’s hard to watch our kids treat reading as something that’s as obsolete as, well, “Reading Rainbow.” As Allie put it, not only are our kids not “getting the exposure to vocabulary and comprehension” that they need, but “they are also missing out on the joy of reading (and what they can learn about the world).”

So, how did this happen? Was it the COVID-19 pandemic that forced students into virtual classrooms? Is it the screens? The shifts in education methods?

Although concerns about children’s reading skills aren’t new, we can put some of the blame on COVID-19: “This is a longtime trend that was rapidly accelerated by remote and hybrid schooling during the pandemic,” said Natalie Wexler, author of “The Knowledge Gap: The Hidden Cause of America’s Broken Education System — and How to Fix It.”

“The pandemic created disruptions to foundational literacy instruction,” confirmed Chrystine Mitchell, Ph.D., director of early childhood education operations at ChildCare Education Institute. These disruptions in the 2019-2020 academic year, she said, included inconsistent learning approaches that varied by school, with many of the solutions (virtual learning, hybrid learning, etc.) unfairly assuming “universal access to technology, which simply wasn’t the reality for many families.” As a result, NWEA research in 2021 “found students returned to school with approximately 10 weeks less learning in reading compared to a typical year.”

In addition, noted Mitchell, “the pandemic severely limited opportunities for read-alouds and meaningful text exploration, which are the cornerstones of developing a love for reading.”

“Without these rich literary experiences and deep conversations around texts, many students missed crucial exposure to language patterns, vocabulary and the joy of reading itself,” she said.

Phonics is a common method of teaching children how to read by matching the sounds of spoken English with individual letters or groups of letters. While phonics is an excellent tool for helping kids learn to read, the shift over the past 25 years toward a more decoding-centered approach in schools is another possible reason our kids aren’t reading as much anymore.

This approach, Mitchell explained, is “grounded in decades of brain research and formalized by the National Reading Panel (2000).” Unfortunately, “the pendulum has swung so far toward phonics-heavy instruction that comprehension work, read-alouds and explicit strategy instruction have been significantly reduced or eliminated entirely.”

“This means that students are becoming proficient decoders without developing the critical thinking and comprehension skills necessary for true literacy.”

The Atlantic highlighted the effects of the overall devaluation of reading comprehension in a 2024 article that examined how students arrive at college ill-equipped to read full books. This is likely the result of teachers using excerpts and brief texts to teach reading comprehension in schools rather than whole books. “Not only is that less engaging for students,” said Wexler, “it fails to build their reading stamina and their ability to dig deeply into a text.”

While Mitchell admitted the move toward technology as the “primary medium or tool for instruction” began before COVID, “there was a significant increase following the pandemic.” This shift, she said, “contributed to screen time in schools replacing traditional reading time (with high-quality texts).” According to a 2021 report from Common Sense Media, children’s daily screen time increased by 17% during the pandemic, with 8- to 12-year-olds averaging four to six hours daily.

“It’s hard to compete with the constant stimulation provided by screens,” acknowledged Wexler. But when you pair the technology increase in schools with the number of hours spent at home on iPads, smartphones and other devices, it can lead to changes in students’ attention spans.

“Excessive screen time trains students’ brains for rapid, surface-level information processing rather than sustained, deep reading,” Mitchell said.

“Reading — the ability to decode and make sense of text — is one of the most important skills a person can have,” Naomi Hupert, a senior research scientist and expert in K-12 literacy and digital learning at the Education Development Center, tells HuffPost.

Therefore, if reading doesn’t become part of a child’s routine early on, they’ll be at risk of “missing out on an important way of acquiring knowledge about the world,” said Wexler, not to mention “a source of self-fulfillment and pleasure.”

Although Mitchell emphasized the importance of phonics when a child is first learning to read (“Research shows that 95% of children can learn to read when taught with systematic, explicit phonics instruction”), she cautioned against the idea of “phonics instruction dominating at the expense of rich read-alouds and meaningful text discussions.” Such a phonics-heavy approach may result in “students becoming proficient decoders who don’t enjoy reading.”

“One of the benefits of reading, beyond enjoyment, is that it can expand a reader’s vocabulary and conceptual understanding of things that may exist beyond that reader’s everyday experiences,” added Hupert. Without substantial reading skills, “the risk is that future generations will simply be unable to think as deeply and with as much complexity as in the past,” observed Wexler.

Mitchell acknowledged that for teachers, “the challenge lies in striking the right balance” between phonics and reading comprehension. “Systematic phonics instruction is essential, but it must be paired with opportunities for students to wrestle with ideas, encounter complex texts and engage in discussions that spark critical thinking,” she advised.

Beyond encouraging reading at home and at school, don’t sleep on your local library: Public libraries are “spaces where families can access story hours, tutoring programs and cultural events that bring stories to life,” Mitchell said.

Ultimately, solving any literacy crisis is about discovering new and different ways to incentivize children to engage in reading — and that will usually depend on their individual interests. “Helping [children] find the right reading materials (even digitally) can remind them that reading is not a chore and can help them learn about their favorite sports stars, unique animals in nature, how to solve a problem, etc.,” Mitchell advised.

One thing parents can do is model good reading habits for their children. (Yes, that includes you, Gen Z parents.)

This starts with reading to your kids while they’re still babies and toddlers. Even if the child is too young to read, there are several benefits of constant exposure to books. This can include “pretend reading for non-readers, or re-reading familiar books over and over again,” said Hupert. “Each of these kinds of activities helps children reinforce some of the foundational skills needed for later successful reading.”

“Something as small as reading aloud with expression to children offers repeated exposure to story structure, vocabulary and fluent phrasing,” said Mitchell. “Diving deeper into the text by having parents ask questions about the text, whether retelling the story or making inferences about the characters, can deepen their understanding of the text and thus create more engagement around reading.”

And once they’re old enough to read on their own, keep setting that positive example: Grab that romantasy paperback that’s been collecting dust on your nightstand, pour yourself a cup of tea, and rediscover the art of reading yourself. “Preferably in print rather than on a screen,” reiterated Wexler. “Reading comprehension often suffers when people read on a screen.”