Falk Huettig featured in Süddeutsche Zeitung on the societal impact of reading

Titled 'Lesen ist Grundlage demokratischer Teilhabe' ('Reading is the foundation of democratic participation'), the interview covers how reading shapes the brain. Among its insights, Huettig addresses the limits of AI summaries, the risks of simplifying texts and losing handwriting, and the role of literacy in democratic participation.

The limits of AI summaries

Huettig warns against the widespread trend among school pupils and university students of using AI to summarize texts and lectures. He emphasizes that consuming an AI condensation is not an equivalent substitute. Beyond delivering facts, a lecture conveys secondary effects of written culture, because a professor speaks more precisely and in a more structured manner with deliberate emphasis. AI summaries strip away these structured linguistic nuances. By avoiding complex texts, individuals miss out on essential cognitive training for working memory and the ability to think abstractly.

Text simplification and losing handwriting

In the interview, Huettig cautions against educational proposals to introduce classical literature in simplified language, noting that difficult texts are important for the brain because complex syntax trains working memory more effectively.

He also criticizes decisions in some countries to abolish handwriting in schools. Writing uniquely combines visual and motor memory processes that reinforce the cognitive effects of reading. "Any cultural skill that is no longer practised leaves a cognitive gap," Huettig cautions.

Literacy and democratic participation

Highlighting international PISA statistics, Huettig points out that the highest level of reading proficiency, which involves working with long, unfamiliar, and complex texts, is now achieved by only around two percent of 15-year-olds in most countries.

Huettig stresses that this decline extends far beyond individual academic performance: "Those who never read in depth do not develop the ability to recognise fake news, to think through complex issues, or to form a well-founded opinion. Reading is not merely a cultural skill. It is the foundation of democratic participation."

More information

• Full interview (in German): Read the interview in Süddeutsche Zeitung
• Related MPI news item: Falk Huettig's new release: "The Perks of Being a Bookworm: The Science of the Benefits of Reading"
• Book: Falk Huettig, The Perks of Being a Bookworm. Cambridge University Press. 
• Source: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 169, 25 July 2026, pp. 30–31, illustration: Lina Moreno