The Reading Recession: Are We Making Ourselves Less Intelligent? (James Marriott)

This week, the columnist and writer James Marriott argues that
reading is essential to the rise and fall of liberal democracy.
He proposes that reading helps the spread of information,
encourages critical thinking, and forces people to structure
their ideas logically.


But he’s concerned the shift from deep reading to digital
skim-reading - driven largely by screens - is weakening our
ability to think in complex, reflective ways. He suggests the
decline has political consequences - that a less literate, more
screen-dependent public may be more vulnerable to misinformation
and less capable of meaningful democratic participation.


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Episodes of Radical with Amol Rajan are released every Thursday.
Your Radical Questions is released every Monday. Amol Rajan is a
presenter of the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, and he’s the
host of University Challenge on BBC One. Before that, Amol was
media editor at the BBC and the editor of The Independent
newspaper.


Radical with Amol Rajan is a Today Podcast. It was made by Lewis
Vickers and Rufus Gray with Anna Budd, Cordelia Hemming and Oscar
Pearson. Digital production was by Gabriel Purcell-Davis.
Technical production was by Johnny Hall. The editor is Sam
Bonham.