The rise of performative reading

Why Gen Z may only be pretending to read those clever books

Young woman sitting on a cafe terrace, holding mobile phone, with a book on the table
(Image credit: Francesco Carta fotografo / Getty Images)

Next time you see someone poring over a highbrow novel on the train or posing with a philosophical tome on social media, you shouldn't automatically assume they are reading the book.

"Performative reading" is a trend that's trickled down from the celebrity world to everyday mortals, with some concluding there's more value in being seen to be reading an impressive title than in actually reading it.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.