- The Importance of Empathy
- Take our Empathy Test
- Find counselling near me
Key points
- Reading for pleasure facilitates the development of prosocial skills.
- Reading can alleviate loneliness and social isolation.
- Adults who read more tend to live longer, healthier lives.
It is all over the news and social media—paradoxically, we are lonelier and more disconnected from others than ever before, even as we spend more and more time online. Adolescents and young adults, in particular, are facing a mental health crisis, experiencing anxiety and social isolation at unprecedented rates
Alongside these headlines are seemingly unrelated stories: Americans are reading for pleasure at lower rates than ever before. Lisa Bonos in The Washington Post reports on multiple research studies in the U.S. and in London over the last few decades that indicate that only 16 percent of the adult population reads for pleasure every day, and 46 percent have read no books at all in the last year
What does this have to do with loneliness? Intriguingly, not reading fiction and feeling socially isolated may, in fact, be related. It is stories that connect us, to both characters in books and people in real life. When we listen to stories, we understand and empathize with others, key components of feeling connected
Raymond Mar and his colleagues have been studying the effects of reading fiction for years, and they have just published a review summarizing the many benefits. Not surprisingly, people who read more fiction have better vocabularies and do better academically. But the benefits of reading extend far beyond these cognitive abilities
Children who read more fiction show higher levels of empathy and demonstrate more prosocial behavior. As Mar argues, reading fiction places us in complex narrative worlds, reading about the exploits and the inner lives of characters—characters that we may like and identify with, or even those we dislike and want to distance ourselves from. Either way, reading helps us understand what makes humans “tick,” why they behave as they do, what their motivations, intentions, and emotions are, and what the consequences of their behaviors are.
As we read, we become embedded in worlds and lives not our own. Yet in this immersion, we come to understand these different worlds, different perspectives, different ways of being. Reading connects us to other minds, even if those minds are fictional
I have been an avid reader for as long as I can remember. I was a very shy child, a fact that my friends today find hard to believe. I thought of books as my escape, escape from the social anxiety, the sense of not belonging, the sense of being unable to connect. I escaped into worlds that I knew little about culturally or historically—Heidi, Anne of Green Gables, Nancy Drew, and Cherry Ames. Reading allowed me entry into different identities, different viewpoints, different worlds. I could “try on” all kinds of ways of being, explore different identities, be different people in my head. And through this, I developed skills for connecting with people in real life—to learn their stories, their viewpoints, to enter into a world with them and connect.
In their review of the research, Mar and colleagues point to the lifelong benefits of reading fiction—adults who read more fiction are less prejudiced, more insightful, and more reflective about life. They are also more cognitively flexible: reading fiction increases neuronal connectivity. It actually makes our brains healthier! And this increases our physical well-being. People who read more fiction show less cognitive decline with age and actually live longer. Wow, books are powerful!
- The Importance of Empathy
- Take our Empathy Test
- Find counselling near me
Reading fiction is not a substitute for real-life social interaction in real life, but it may strengthen our skills for social interaction skills. By helping us understand myriad people facing myriad challenges and by building empathy and perspective-taking, reading fiction may “grease the wheels,” so to speak. This may be one reason why book clubs, both in person and online, are on the rise—talking together about the books we read may help us talk more about life in general, share our own stories, and connect.
But what if you are not a reader? If you have not yet developed this habit, what can you do? In Brain Matters, Richard Sima gives advice. First, start slow—try to read at least 10 minutes a day. And do it consistently to build a habit
And start reading any book that seems interesting to you—a short story, a graphic novel, sci-fi, romance, whatever grabs your attention. And remember, reading is fun! Just like sharing stories with other people, relax, let yourself go, don’t stress over it. You just may find yourself immersed in a different world, experiencing new perspectives, laughing out loud, or shedding tears. Reading connects us to the human story. And to each other
Bonos, L. (August 20, 2025) Why so few Americans read for pleasure. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/08/20/american-reading-declines-attention-spans/
Mar, R., Dunk, R.J., & Shoemaker, L.H. (2026). The benefits of reading narrative fiction. Current Opinion in Psychology, 73, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2026.102368
Sima, R. (August 18, 2026). Books are good for your brain. But fiction has a surprising added benefit. Brain Matters. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/08/18/reading-fiction-is-good-your-brain-here-why/
