Literature students struggle to read one book every three weeks, Oxford professor warns Sir Jonathan Bate says students today lack the same attention as 40 years ago He blames smartphones and short media content for reducing reading ability School curriculums are also increasingly prescribing shorter books for reading By Francine Wolfisz Published: 10:48, 8 October 2024 | Updated: 11:17, 8 October 2024 e-mail 9 View comments While literature students used to plough their way through multiple books every week, many now struggle to complete just one every three weeks a leading academic has warned, amid fears people are reading less and less. Sir Jonathan Bate, who is a professor of English literature at the University of Oxford , believes increased use of devices and watching short media content has reduced our ability - and appetite - to delve into long reads. Speaking to the BBC 's Today programme, he said: 'I've been teaching in British and American universities for 40 years and when I began in Cambridge you could say to students, 'This week, it's Dickens, please read Great Expectations, David Copperfield and Bleak House.
' 'Now, instead of three novels in a week, many students will struggle to get through one novel in three weeks.' Miranda from the US sparked a huge BookTok debate last month after admitting she skips reading 'big paragraphs' Another, @itsmjprice admitted that they'd ended up 'missing important information' and 'getting confused' after skimming over multiple .