In the latest Censis report there are significant data regarding how Italians get information and how much they read. 83.7%, therefore more than 8 out of 10, read the news using their smartphone,directly scrolling the latest updates on apps and social networks. Of these, 37.9% prefer to carry out a targeted search while 28.2% instead consult various sources to have a complete and exhaustive picture. Other interesting data concerns the reading of complete articles only 25.4% do so, while 13.2% limit themselves to titles. Finally, 12.3% also read comments from readers and followers. A separate discussion regarding videos: 12.1% obtain information using this formula. And it is the youngest audience: 16.7% in the range between 14 and 29 years). 8.1% only look at the images (9.7% among young people), 5.2% comment on articles and write posts, 4.6% share them. Latest data: 3.7% use their smartphone to get information by listening to podcasts.
Users can therefore be divided into readers and viewers. Viewers are still a minority, but they are destined to multiply, both because they are encouraged by the platforms that are based on this mode of communication (Instagram, Telegram, TikTok), and because of the lack of habit of reading long texts.
Literature chapter
In Italy, book readers, even occasional ones (at least one book a year), in 2023 they represent a total of 48.3% of the population. They were 42.7% the year before, 43.7% in 2019, but 59.4% in 2007. More than half of the Italian population therefore does not read books at all, whether in print or in electronic format. book. If we then consider those who have read at least three printed books over the twelve months, we stop at a quarter of Italians (25.1%), with a small improvement compared to 2019, when the percentage stopped at 21 ,3%. This is what we read in the 58th Censis Report on the social situation of the country/2024 released today. 8.0% of Italians aged at least 14 have read comics or graphic novels in the last year, with a clear predominance of the male component of the population (10.7% of readers among males, 5, 3% among females) and the most educated subjects (9.7% among those with high school diplomas and graduates, 5.8% among those with the least education). The group of audiobook fans is even smaller, equal to 5.3% of Italians.