Had a chat with my fiancé today about the problems YA has in how it alienates boys, which discourages them from reading, but I don't think it's entirely a boy problem. So he was wondering what it would take to get a Zoomer to read these days, and I honestly believe that some of them may never pick up a book again. Kids kind of need to be conditioned or have to have an inclination for reading, otherwise they'll just never feel the need to read what's not already available on their phones. Older books are still timeless enough that anyone can read them, but kids can't get their hands on them if their parents don't already own a copy, or if they aren't taken to the library often.
I had to use myself as an example because as a kid, despite being a young girl, it was "uncool" that I was a bookworm. But I have hyperlexia, so I was already born to read, and my parents had a lot of books and encyclopedias within reach that I'd just grab and read because I felt like it that day (because there was either nothing on the TV, it was raining/dark outside, my brothers were using the computer, or whatever). My brothers did it, too--not to the same extent I did, but at the very least, they will read a book if they're interested in it. But I have a feeling that if it wasn't for the fact I read so much as a kid, I might've become disinterested in books later in life just because a lot of the school-mandated books weren't always good or interesting, and I knew other bookworms from my classes who hated a lot of these titles.
Maybe we're just from a different time because the Internet wasn't yet prevalent, and even though there's oodles of reading material online, you can't find free shit without knowing someone with a folder or Mega link and there's too many normies who can't figure that out. Also it's just not the same reading off a screen than it is reading off a physical book, which may be a small key factor to why it is people just aren't interested in reading.
I also pointed out how back in the day, boys got into reading through comic books, and unfortunately, comic books suck ass now. Manga is a good alternative way to go about it, but that's still a niche genre, and even among weebs that's apparently not exactly the case like it would've been just ten years ago since, well, bookstores aren't exactly in the best spot right now. Haven't been for years. Scanlations also are just all over the place, too.
I dunno, feels bad, man. I've been thinking that at this point, I just have to hope and pray God blesses us with a hyperlexic child just to make things slightly easier on us in getting them interested in reading, and that we get enough books across demographics to ensure that.