French young people now devote much more time to screens than to reading, with the rise in screen time dramatic in the past few years, the CNL’s study of 7 to 19-year-olds reveals.
The research reveals young people read for pleasure an average of 18 minutes each day – down one minute from 2024 and eight minutes from 2016.
They spend an average of three hours and one minute a day on screens, and up to five hours a day among 16 to 19-year-olds – 99 per cent of whom go online every day to use social media.
The research showed that reading for pleasure decreased with age, in particular for boys.
‘Instant gratification’
“The place of the screen in the family and at school, the toxic addiction to algorithms and social media” are factors, said the CNL’s president, Régine Hatchondo, on France Inter.
She said, “Reading doesn’t offer instant gratification, like social media.”
Hatchondo added she is “completely in favour of banning social media” for those under 15, something the French Senate voted for on 1 April (the National Assembly voted for the ban in January).
Reading habits among young people are still relatively unchanged between 2026 and 2024, with 84 per cent of the young people surveyed reading for study, work or school and 81 per cent for pleasure.
But reading rates among 16-19-year-olds have fallen, with the study showing over a third of this age group don’t read.
Reading time is also getting worse because it is becoming less concentrated: 67 per cent of young people between 16 and 19 years old report that they do something else while reading.
Comic books
Even if there has been a small decrease, comic books are young people’s favourite reading material.
The CNL also found that their main reasons for wanting to read a book or comic book are still word of mouth (friends and family), cover art, main character and blurb.
The most common reasons for reading were relaxation, enjoyment and learning. When young people don’t want to read, they prefer to play with screens, and then play sports and other social activities.
