Mar 13, 2023, 6:09 AM
- The phone-obsessed Gen Z is surprisingly a sucker for paperback books.
- Three Gen Zers gave their reasons for preferring printed editions over e-books.
- One Oxford University student said real books strained his eyes less and allowed him to focus more.
There’s no doubt that Gen Z loves to read.
This generation, defined as people born between 1997 and 2015, is often considered phone-obsessed and addicted to technology. But when it comes to reading, Gen Zers say they prefer to pick up a printed book over an e-book.
Book sales in the US and the UK have boomed in the past two years, the management consultancy McKinsey found. Sales in the US hit a record of more than 843 million units in 2021, while last year had the second-highest number sales, at almost 789 million. This increasing popularity was partly because of Gen Z and its social-media trends, including the hashtag #BookTok on TikTok, McKinsey said.
Perhaps the most surprising trend is not Gen Zers’ love of books but the way they consume them. While their pastimes usually involve a screen, data and interviews with Insider suggest this doesn’t apply to books. They’re choosing to ditch digital formats and opt for the timeless paperback book.
Stephanie L. Gross, MSLIS 