Could an eight-week 'couch to 5k' reading plan rebuild lost book habits?

Naomi Alderman, a novelist and BBC broadcaster who previously worked on the running app Zombies, Run, says she has found it harder to maintain a sustained reading habit. In a conversation with a public-health expert, she compared smartphones to cheap cigarettes that appeared on a mass scale during the first world war. Both became addictive because they were easy to consume repeatedly. The doctor said he missed his own reading routine and suggested that reading needs something like a couch-to-5k training plan.

According to Alderman, the problem is broader than individual habit. A 2024 OECD report found literacy had declined or stagnated in most developed countries. University students are reportedly arriving without the ability to read a whole book. In a forthcoming book, The New Dark Ages, James Marriott argues that poor reading skills leave people unable to follow complex arguments, making them more likely to accept simple slogans and gossip. Alderman calls this an intellectual public-health crisis but says governments have been unwilling to regulate technology companies that encourage constant phone use.

The programme she designed runs for eight weeks and offers three tracks. One is aimed at people who remember having a regular reading habit and want to build back to thirty minutes a day, with two or three longer sessions a week. Another suits those who are time-limited and want to read twenty minutes a day. The third track is for people who already read but tend to avoid challenging material. Alderman based the structure on work she did for the running app Zombies, Run.

Early feedback has been positive. After the first week, participants say their morning routines feel faster, reading makes them calmer than scrolling, and they can watch a long film without checking their phones. Some have made their own progress trackers, and teachers have asked how to bring the idea into schools. The programme is still running, and Alderman says anyone can join from the beginning. The first step is simple: put down the phone, pick up a book, and read for ten minutes.