SM Hasanuzzaman

The world today stands at a strange crossroads. Technology dazzles our eyes, information floods our screens, yet amidst this abundance of data, depth of understanding is vanishing. There was a time when reading the morning newspaper was a sacred ritual—its rustling pages carried not just news, but reflection, debate, and civic consciousness. Today, that rustle has been replaced by the soundless scroll of a smartphone. The new generation wakes up not to headlines, but to notifications; not to analysis, but to algorithms. They click, they swipe, they react—but rarely do they pause to think. They know more than any generation before them, yet understand less. In this relentless “age of clicks,” the ability to think critically is quietly eroding.

Today’s young minds are flooded with updates, yet starved of context. They jump from one clip to another, one headline to the next, consuming fragments, not facts. But newspapers, unlike fleeting digital content, cultivate patience. They train readers to follow a story in full, to see beyond surface excitement, to separate propaganda from perspective. A printed paper, or even a well-edited digital edition, is not just a source of information; it is a school of thought, a daily exercise in civic reasoning. Technology, of course, is not the enemy. But every wave of innovation brings a hidden challenge, and in this era, the challenge is attention decay. Studies show that the average young reader’s attention span has shrunk to mere seconds. They no longer read long features or editorials; they want “snackable” news—fast, flashy, and forgettable. Yet, the strength of a nation lies not in how quickly its citizens consume information, but in how deeply they can comprehend it. Newspapers foster this depth. They present events alongside background, interpretation, and impact—training readers to ask questions, to verify facts, to form opinions based on evidence rather than emotion.

Without this discipline of reading, societies risk falling prey to half-truths and hysteria. When newspaper readership declines, rational thought is replaced by reactive emotion. Falsehood becomes fact, and facts become controversial. Many young people today dismiss newspapers as slow, old-fashioned, or irrelevant. They crave immediacy, visuals, and viral sensations. They flock to TikTok explainers or YouTube “news shows” and think they are informed. What they do not realise is that every word in a credible newspaper passes through layers of verification, accountability and editorial judgment.

A false rumour can go viral online in minutes, but a truthful story may take a journalist days to verify and write. That difference—between virility and validity—is what newspapers teach us to value. This culture needs to be rebuilt - families, schools and media organisations must work together to ensure that. Parents should make a daily paper a part of their household again, reading and discussing one article each morning.

Schools could introduce a ‘News Hour,’ where students analyse a headline, debate its social implications, and learn to distinguish between reporting and rhetoric. Universities might launch ‘News Literacy Clubs,’ encouraging young minds to engage with editorials, op-eds, and investigative reports. Such practices nurture curiosity and judgment, qualities that algorithms can never teach. Media houses, too, must evolve. News outlets should embrace multimedia storytelling, interactive layouts, and mobile-friendly design—without compromising on accuracy, ethics, or language quality. The digital newspaper must feel relevant to the youth while remaining grounded in truth and integrity.

We live in an age of information warfare. Whoever controls attention, controls perception and, eventually, power. Algorithms now decide what we see, believe and care about. In such a landscape, reading newspapers becomes a revolutionary act of independence. It reconnects readers to verified truth, to public accountability, to human empathy. It trains the youth to be questioners, not followers; thinkers, not scrollers. 

Ultimately, nation’s intellectual health depends on its reading habits. Books nourish the imagination; newspapers sharpen awareness of reality. If young people abandon both, they risk becoming technologically skilled but socially detached.

They will know who went viral, but not who governs them—or why. Bringing them back to newspapers is, therefore, not just about preserving journalism, but about reviving citizenship itself. Reading newspapers is a social investment. A regular reader is a thoughtful voter, a responsible citizen and a guardian of democracy. Those who read think before they act; those who do not, they react before they think.

Reviving the culture of newspaper reading is thus a way of rebuilding the moral and intellectual foundation of society. Every click is an impulse, but every page turned is a decision. The culture of clicking makes us rush; the culture of reading makes us pause, reflect and grow. Civilisation advances not through speed, but through comprehension. Therefore, inspiring the new generation to read newspapers is not a sentimental plea, it is a strategic necessity. Because when the youth return to the newspaper page, they do not just rediscover the news, they rediscover themselves, their society, and the truth that binds them both.
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The writer is a retired teacher 
from Rangpur. He can be reached 
at [email protected]