Are We Heading Into a Generational Reading Abyss?

Okay, I need to rant about something that’s been living rent-free in my head. The other day, I was hanging out with my 15-year-old cousin. We were watching The Summer I Turned Pretty (because of course we were), and she kept saying the show needed more episodes to really flesh out the story. And I’m sitting there thinking: girl, the answers are right there in book form. So naturally, I said, “You know, if you want more details, you should just read the books.”

You would have thought I asked her to sacrifice her soul to a dark lord. The look on her face was actual shock. She blinked at me like I had just suggested she run a marathon barefoot on hot asphalt. Apparently, the idea of opening up three coming-of-age novels is on par with torture these days.

I tried to reason with her—I told her the books have way more depth, little details that the show skips over, moments that make you connect with the characters in a different way. I wasn’t saying they’re the next great works of literature, but they’re fun and they add so much more to the story. But nope. Instead of even considering picking up a book, she whipped out her phone and asked an AI tool to summarize the differences for her. Just like that. Instant CliffsNotes version. She said she didn’t want to “waste her time” on three small-ish books.

And honestly? That broke my little bookworm heart. Because it made me wonder—is this where we’re headed? A whole generation that doesn’t want to read anything unless it’s condensed, bite-sized, and available in video format? Are we really going to get to a point where books are only being written for adults who already read, while teens just skip the whole experience altogether?

I mean, maybe my cousin is just a brat (love her, but let’s be real, teenagers can be brutal). But maybe it’s bigger than that. Maybe reading is slowly losing its place as the default way of experiencing stories. Think about it: shows, movies, TikToks, recaps, even AI summaries—everything is geared toward speed. No one has the patience to sit with a story anymore. And yeah, maybe that’s progress in its own way, but it also makes me sad. Because books aren’t just about “getting the story.” They’re about the feelings between the lines, the little details, the way your brain paints the scene in a way no show ever could.

Don’t get me wrong—I love TV adaptations, and sometimes they’re even better than the books. But the idea of skipping books entirely and outsourcing the “reading experience” to an AI? That feels… dystopian. Like one day we’ll just download the plot of a novel straight into our brains and call it a day.

Right now, I’m seeing people who can’t even write without running it through AI—not just to check for grammar errors, but to actually translate their thoughts into cohesive text.

So now I’m stuck wondering: is this just a me-problem, a weird generational divide, or are we truly marching toward a reading abyss? Because if my cousin is the sample size, we’re doomed. 😬📖