A book and a smartphone
Dera does not, however, deny that reading is in decline. ‘Young people are reading less, and their reading skills are declining. We certainly need to address that. But we really do young people a disservice if we claim that they don’t want to read and that they overwhelmingly think reading is boring.’
According to Dera, an important explanation for this negative perception lies in the world in which young people are growing up. ‘That’s the second tension: for them, the digital and physical worlds are constantly intertwined – and that has consequences for their attention spans. Young people have a book in one hand and their smartphone in the other. Online, particularly on TikTok, the physical book is celebrated, but even while reading a physical book, teenagers are quick to turn to digital forms of text.’
In fact, the online world has helped reading grow in popularity. Around 2020, #BookTok emerged on TikTok: a community in which young people share videos about their reading experiences. ‘It made reading hugely fashionable among a particular group of young people.’ Dera does caution that #BookTok mainly reaches young people who already enjoy reading, particularly girls. ‘That means #BookTok isn’t the solution to the reading problem.’
At the same time, Dera observes that even young people who read frequently and extensively are finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Remarkably, however, some young people use books precisely as a way of escaping their smartphones. ‘They say: “I want to be able to concentrate better, and that’s why I read.” They deliberately put their smartphones away, schedule time for reading or visit Silent Reading Clubs, where people get together to read in silence for an hour. That’s how they try to protect themselves from the constant stream of stimuli from apps.’
Connecting with literature education
According to Dera, the third tension can be found in secondary schools. Literature education does not always connect with what young people read in their spare time and encounter online. ‘That doesn’t mean schools should abandon their existing approach to teaching literature. Quite the opposite: it remains essential for young people to learn to read complex texts that they would not choose themselves. It is simply necessary for the development of their language skills and their understanding of the world.’
Dera does believe, however, that teachers could do more to build bridges to their students’ everyday lives, for example by discussing #BookTok in class. ‘Why do videos in which readers tearfully describe how a passage from a book moved them become so popular? And what do the responses to those videos tell us about the way young people value literature? Questions like these can make literature education much more interesting and relevant to the world young people live in today.’
As an example, he mentions poems shared on TikTok last year following the murder of 17-year-old Lisa from Abcoude. ‘Amsterdam’s city poet, Ellen Deckwitz, also wrote a poem about Lisa. By looking at texts like these side by side, teachers can connect the world of literature with their students’ online world. But to do that, you need to know what is happening on platforms such as TikTok and pay attention to the creative uses of language circulating there.’
A more nuanced conversation
Dera also argues that young people underestimate how many of their peers read. ‘Books are rarely talked about, particularly among boys. Because of all sorts of social group norms, some students even prefer not to admit that they have actually read the books on their reading list.’
Dera wants to dispel the idea that the average young person simply hates books. Constantly repeating that negative narrative can even be counterproductive, he says, for example when recruiting new language teachers. ‘I hope we can start having a more nuanced conversation, one that does greater justice to the diversity among young people and their perspectives. And that we recognise that there are also many different young people who do want to read – even, or perhaps especially, now.’
Win a book
Curious about the Dutch book De Spagaat: jonge lezers in tijden van ontlezing (‘The balancing act: young readers in an age of declining reading’)? Good news! Radboud Recharge is giving away two books to its readers. Want to be in with a chance of winning? Email recharge [at] ru.nl by 18 September 2026, with the subject ‘book Jeroen Dera’.
