BOOKS AGAINST SCREENS A duel for the future

The book is going through a rough patch. The 1^er June, the Furet du Nord and Decitre bookstores, of the Nosoli group, were placed in receivership. A month and a half earlier, the Gibert group had taken the same path. Their difficulties reveal the poor health of books in France. Sales of new books are eroding because the French are giving up reading. All studies, including that of Edistat (Publishing Statistics), note this regression (read infographic p. 23). And not just among young people. “In 2025, we saw for the first time a dropout among those over 50,” explains Régine Hatchondo, president of the National Book Center (CNL).

The situation is worrying, not without reason. Evaluations show that the educational level of the French is deteriorating. National Education is reporting problems with students understanding instructions. Even teachers have shortcomings. In 2022, during the recruitment test for school teachers, candidates were unable to define “faltering”. “Staggering is rare orally but common in writing,” notes Michel Desmurget, neurophysiologist and director of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research. This means that we now have teachers who do not open a book. »

It slows cognitive decline. Because reading brings us into a state of meditation which reduces stress, stimulates language, memory and imagination. It also allows you to enrich your vocabulary, and thus to communicate better and access knowledge by understanding texts. Reading expands general culture for another simple reason: we understand and retain information much better by reading it than by hearing it. “We can modulate our speed, go back if necessary. Orally, we have less time to process the information in depth,” explains Michel Desmurget. Unsurprisingly, strong readers synthesize their ideas better and are more successful in school.

Development of empathy

But its most astonishing strength is perhaps elsewhere: reading makes us experience the existence of the characters in an almost… literal way. “When you read that Emma Bovary is afraid, your areas of the brain linked to fear are activated,” explains Michel Desmurget. This phenomenon has the effect of developing our empathy. Studies have proven that strong readers have greater tolerance for those with different ideas. The book opens minds and touches hearts. “Unable to read Letter from an unknown woman, by Stefan Zweig, without it tearing your soul away,” smiles neuroscientist Michel Desmurget.

To play devil’s advocate, we point out that Ali Khamenei, Iranian Supreme Guide until his death in February 2026, loved novels. And that the Nazi criminal Joseph Goebbels was a doctor of literature. “The vaccine does not completely protect against a disease, but it considerably reduces the chances of dying from it,” he replies. The book protects against stupidity, intolerance and cruelty. » Olivier Delignon agrees: “Reading is an opportunity to become a better person. » What would become of a society that no longer reads? “A world without critical thinking, where conspiracy would flourish more and where nuance would recede,” believes Régine Hatchondo. “It is not for nothing that dictatorships often start by attacking language,” adds Michel Desmurget.

A desire to rekindle

To revitalize reading, a first option consists of better regulating the use of screens. Michel Desmurget advocates banning social networks for under 16s. Australia has implemented it, the United Kingdom has just announced a similar measure, while Greece, Denmark and France are considering strengthening their restrictions. The second approach is to discover the pleasure provided by reading. Initiatives in this direction are increasing. Like this documentation center of a college in Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhône) which adopted a labrador to attract students.

Strengthen the role of parents

Let us also mention the great initiative Books at Home, by Anne-Claire Thibaut-Jouvray, a comic strip colorist from Lyon. For parents in precarious situations, she establishes a reading ritual with their children. “They are often single and exhausted mothers who cannot imagine settling down with their child,” she describes. Most have never had parents who read to them. They discovered the book at school and associate it with homework. But reading is very broad. I show them audio books, games books, cooking books… I try to make the book as natural an object in a house as a fork. » Régine Hatchondo is also convinced: “There is necessarily a book for each person. »