When an Oxbridge professor says his students are “functionally illiterate”, you know something is wrong. With reading levels in freefall and screentime rocketing, is the era of mass literacy over? In his wildly successful blog, James Marriot argues that three centuries after the reading revolution ignited democracy and modern science, we are now witnessing its great undoing. Where once we spent hours poring over books, contemplating complicated theories and ideas, we now scroll emotive, short form content. What effect is this major shift having on our brains? And are we are really at the dawn of the post-literate society?

The Sunday Times wants to Get Britain Reading. With our campaign you can:

• Donate to Bookbanks to put books in the hands of those most in need

• Volunteer to read in schools with Coram Beanstalk

• Above all, take our pledge to read for pleasure for at least ten minutes a day for the next six weeks

Read more about the campaign.

This podcast was brought to you thanks to the support of readers of The Times and The Sunday Times. Subscribe today: http://thetimes.com/thestory

Guest: James Marriott, Times columnist.

Host: Luke Jones.

Producer: Dave Creasey.

Read more:

• The dawn of the post-literate society
• I’m a digital native — can I survive without my smartphone?

Photo: Chris McAndrew for The Times.

Get in touch: thestory@thetimes.com

This podcast was brought to you thanks to subscribers of The Times and The Sunday Times. To enjoy unlimited digital access to all our journalism subscribe here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.