Singapore Pays Citizens to Read Books in Bid to Reverse Reading Decline

Singapore has launched a government scheme that pays citizens for time spent reading books, in an attempt to address what officials and researchers describe as a broader decline in reading habits, according to The Guardian.

Under the programme, which began this month, participants log their reading time on a government website. According to the report, citizens must complete 50 reading sessions of at least 15 minutes each to earn one Singapore dollar, equivalent to about £0.59. Only one logged session is permitted per day, meaning the scheme is not designed to generate significant income but rather to encourage consistent engagement with books.

The Guardian noted that the payout is modest and unlikely to make participants wealthy. Instead, the initiative appears aimed at nudging citizens away from screen time and back toward sustained reading, at a time when reading habits are reported to be in what the publication described as "precipitous decline."

To assess whether such an incentive could work, The Guardian consulted behavioural scientists and psychologists, including Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, who has written extensively about the effects of digital technology on attention and wellbeing. According to the report, these experts suggested that despite the small financial reward, the scheme could still help reinforce a reading habit if used consistently over time.

The initiative reflects growing concern among policymakers and researchers about the impact of smartphones and digital media on reading habits, particularly as attention spans are increasingly drawn toward screens rather than books. The Guardian's report did not specify further details about the scheme's funding, administration, or expected duration, nor did it provide data on how many citizens have enrolled since the programme's launch this month.