Reading in the Era of Gen Z: New Ways to Enjoy a Book

It's just a common misconception. As we've repeatedly stated on these pages, the preconception that new generations no longer read has been disproven by numerous market sales and consumption habit surveys.

Young people, both Gen Z (i.e., young adults) and Gen Alpha (those born after 2011), definitely read, perhaps even more than generations born before them. What has changed is the mode of consumption and, above all, the management of reading, in a daily life context where it's impossible to detach – or rather, disconnect – completely from the numerous and continuous stimuli, especially those from electronic devices that are now an integral part of our daily lives. But this, as we will see, is not necessarily a bad thing.

To better understand this statement, let's take a small step back in time. If we analyze major social changes from a cultural and customary perspective, every significant transition from one consumption vehicle to another has met with resistance from previous generations. As readers belonging to Generation X will remember, the introduction of television into every home, commercial programs, and 24/7 schedules were certainly not met with general consensus. On the contrary, television was long accused of being a tool for mass distraction, an uneducational “monster” with no pedagogical function. The same fate befell the internet when it became accessible to everyone at minimal cost, just as AI is on trial at this precise historical moment. But if we were to go back in time, the story wouldn't change much. Movable type printing itself, the invention that revolutionized and accelerated the spread of mass culture, was opposed in its time by institutions and religious powers, who feared that the dissemination of knowledge would erase their control over the populace. The lowest common denominator is simple: new media are opposed by those who master the old, fearing loss of control by no longer being able to manage it through now-obsolete tools.

Nowadays, it's normal to imagine a reading session unfolding more or less like this:

• start reading;
• reply to a WhatsApp message;
• read a notification;
• send a voice message;
• return to reading.

A behavior that we believe distracts, if not completely nullifies, concentration. And indeed, there is a risk of breaking the cognitive path, as we will soon see. But what if it reprogrammed it instead?

Our brain is an instrument strongly inclined towards evolution and adaptation. For a young person, master of new tools and current modes of consumption, it is intuitive and natural to manage stimuli and make them an integral part of how they absorb notions, stories, and situations. For previous generations, this might be a difficult concept to assimilate, because they don't “physically” see the object that identifies the activity we're talking about, namely the book.

But Gen Z knows how to read a book in different and innovative ways compared to, let's say, conventional methods.

For example, tapping, scrolling, swiping are perhaps the most common and frequent things done on a screen. But they can be done distractedly or represent flipping digital pages of an e-book. Appearing distracted with earphones doesn't just mean someone is listening to music; it's equally possible that person is listening to an audiobook or a podcast.

Are these just trends? Perhaps. But the numbers speak for themselves.

Over 60% of Gen Z members, according to a study promoted by the American Library Association, read at least one book in 2025, in physical, digital, or audio format. Printed books remain the preferred and most popular medium, but almost everyone also has something to read on their devices, not to mention the increasing frequency with which audiobooks are listened to, given the considerable advantage of being able to multitask, i.e., listen and do something else at the same time.

The singular fact is that 43% of that group do not define themselves as “readers,” despite actually reading much more than the general average. Just think about how often someone, during a conversation, picks up their smartphone to verify something said, an piece of information, or to delve deeper into something. That too is a form of reading and, consequently, of concentration and interest.

But then why is there this reluctance to fully consider themselves readers?

This happens because a “perception” problem arises when the activity is experienced as fragmented: as we said before, you start reading, then you read a notification, then you send a voice message, you look at an attachment, and you resume reading. The risk is interrupting the cognitive process linked to reading, with a consequent difficulty in remembering situations, characters, and events, which is the primary cause of losing interest in the text. But by now, readers of this blog know perfectly well how Fabulè is the ideal tool to eliminate this problem, allowing for the recovery of the narrative thread and the reconstruction of the cognitive path.

These types of behaviors demonstrate that reading is not an obsolete practice but one in transformation, not only on a personal level but also from an aggregative and social perspective: in addition to a new surge in attendance at social spaces dedicated to literature, such as libraries and literary clubs, virtual spaces are experiencing a real boom, if we think of phenomena like Wattpad, Substack, or #Booktok, which we discussed some time ago.

From this perspective, perhaps the data point that most characterizes Gen Z is precisely the idea of reading as an activity no longer individual but shared. A book – be it a published text, a fanfiction, or a classic – transforms into a collective, social experience, becoming a field for comparison, discussion, encounter, and opinion. Reading groups and literary communities sprout up everywhere, as do fanfiction, review, and suggestion pages. Reading “together” allows young adults to feel part of something bigger, becoming a form of aggregation and socialization, conveying the sharing of ideas and emotions, fostering a comparison of personal tastes, and in some cases, transforming them into trends.

Some literary genres, in particular, emerge from the cauldron of offerings and go viral:

• romance
• fantasy
• dystopian novels
• queer literature

The first two are great classics because they provide moments of escape, identification, comfort, and hope, especially during a historical period plagued by uncertainties.

Some writers have ridden the wave and merged them, creating “romantasy,” which, thanks to the blend of elements and the powerful appeal of its characters, has become the true best-buy in reading for the digital era.

Dystopian literature also enjoys great success, highlighting political upheavals, social injustices, and ecological crises, thereby demonstrating the strong interest of younger generations in global issues.

Queer literature is also very popular, due to its focus on topics related to identity and diversity and the issue of inclusivity.

But there's not only innovation and research in Gen Z's tastes. There's also a marked rediscovery of literary classics, such as Dostoevsky, Kafka, Joyce, Woolf, whose works are analyzed and discussed in online communities in light of contemporary life experiences, addressing and commenting on important themes like anguish, loneliness, unrequited love, and diversity. Even the most educated, but also the most curious, try to read classics in their original language to grasp the expressive and linguistic nuances as conceived by the author, thereby broadening their horizons by breaking down geographical distances and linguistic and cultural barriers.

In short, for Gen Z, reading means being connected, curious, open, and free of prejudice. It doesn't matter how, where, or for how long each time. What matters is sharing.

To recap:

1. Does Gen Z read less than in the past? No, only the modes and times of text consumption have changed.
2. How have Gen Z's reading habits changed? They have changed in relation to technological progress and the everyday tools available. The same thing also happened to previous generations.
3. Do smartphones and notifications reduce concentration during reading? Not entirely; young adults have adapted their natural daily behaviors to the reading experience.
4. Why do many young people prefer audiobooks and e-books? Because audiobooks and e-books allow for more flexible reading, adaptable to daily rhythms, enabling content to be read or listened to at any time.
5. What is fragmented reading? It is a reading mode characterized by frequent interruptions due to notifications, messages, and other digital activities, which can make it harder to follow a plot continuously.
6. Why do many young people read but not consider themselves readers? Despite reading a lot, they encounter a perception problem with the activity due to continuous distractions.
7. How to remember a book's plot after a reading break? Picking up the narrative thread can be difficult after days or weeks of interruption. Tools like Fabulè help readers retrieve characters, events, and narrative connections without having to reread entire chapters.
8. Why does Gen Z consider reading a social experience? Because for them, it has become a collective moment of social aggregation; it's no longer just an individual pleasure. Reading becomes a means of socialization and sharing.
9. What are Gen Z's favorite genres? Romance, Fantasy, Romantasy, dystopian novels, queer fiction, classics re-analyzed from a contemporary perspective.