Why deep reading matters in the age of AI

Why teaching children to read deeply, in the AI age, matters

A crisis is quietly unfolding within the realm of children’s learning today, in India and across the world. Children can recognise letters, read words, and answer basic comprehension questions. Yet, many cannot sit with a sentence long enough to absorb, imagine, or let its meaning unfold. Something deeper than literacy is slipping away; the beauty of holding a page, and with it, the ethics of deep reading.

Deep reading is not simply decoding. It is a way of thinking, a cognitive process that involves the willingness to slow down, to inhabit another voice, to tolerate ambiguity, and to dwell in meaning. A page does not entertain, demand, or compete; it waits, invites patience. In a world built for speed, this kind of stillness is becoming rare and it is our children and, consequently, society that will eventually pay the price. Children are reading less, and reading less deeply.Comprehension, the core of deep reading, needs time, repetition, and focus.

National assessments such as the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) and the National Achievement Survey (NAS), remind us that a large proportion of Indian children in elementary grades struggle with grade-level reading. While many can decode or sound out words, they find it difficult to comprehend extended texts, connect ideas, or interpret meaning.

Responding to this concern, the National Curriculum Framework for School Education (NCF-SE 2023) places reading at the heart of curricular aims, emphasising meaning-making, analysis, interpretation, imagination, and sustained engagement with texts across languages and disciplines. In doing so, it recognises deep reading not merely as a functional skill but as a core and critical competency essential for thinking, communication, and democratic participation.

Across Indian households, screen exposure has quietly become a dominant part of childhood. According to a recent meta-analysis by researchers at AIIMS Raipur, children under five years spend an average of 2.22 hours a day on screens, double the safe limit recommended by health authorities such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP). Even infants under two years were found to be exposed to screens for over an hour daily. Younger children watch animated videos, while older ones scroll through reels, social media, gaming apps, and online tutoring platforms. These digital spaces are designed for speed content, fast reactions, and constant switching;, a rhythm that works against the slow, sustained attention deep reading requires.

This constant stimulation reshapes attention, as the mind becomes trained to scan, rather than linger; to react, rather than reflect. The slow, immersive attention required for reading feels irrelevant. Stillness, once a natural part of childhood, has become fragile.