Is the Age of Reading Over?

阅读时代是否已结束?

Radio Atlantic

2026-07-23

30 分钟
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单集简介 ...

People may be reading now more than ever (emails, texts, social-media posts). But fewer and fewer people are reading actual books. The Atlantic’s staff writer Rose Horowitch, who wrote the August cover story, “The End of Reading Is Here,” explains what might be lost in a “postliterate” age—and it’s a lot more than books. - - - Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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单集文稿 ...

  • A few months ago, I invited Atlantic staff writer Charlie Worzel onto The David Frum Show.

  • As podcast hosts, we talked about the pressures and temptations of the medium.

  • Outrage often gets rewarded.

  • Nuance does not.

  • Charlie doesn't take that bait.

  • On his show Galaxy Brain, he covers the ways technology is changing how we think and how we live.

  • Not just the obvious stuff, but the subtle ways it shapes what we believe,

  • how we talk to each other, how we see ourselves and our neighbors.

  • If you've ever wondered how smart people end up believing implausible things online, Galaxy Brain is worth your time.

  • Thoughtful, surprising, and a little unsettling in the very best way.

  • Find it wherever you listen or watch.

  • We're going to have a conversation about the end of reading today.

  • This idea, proposed in the most recent Atlantic cover story, is that the age of reading

  • is turning out to be a short anomaly in human history and that we are fast entering a post-literate society.

  • But before we do that, I want you to think about the arc of your own relationship with books.

  • How did you read as a kid?

  • In school, when did that change?

  • Did you notice a change?

  • What's the last book that you read, absorbed, and enjoyed?

  • I'm Hannah Rosen.