The Head of Department, Mass Communication, Crescent University, Dr. Kola Adeshina, has declared Nigeria’s reading culture “dead,” blaming social media, Artificial Intelligence, and a generation obsessed with instant results for the decline.
Adeshina lamented that the problem is worse today than years back when the old saying, “If you want to hide something from the black man, write it in a book” was made.
He spoke on Thursday at the launch of a book titled ‘My Take’, and 43rd birthday celebration of Kunle Sodipo, held in Abeokuta.
The don blamed TikTok, Instagram and other AI tools for shrinking the attention span of young Nigerians, arguing that students now rely on apps to do assignments, making classroom work the only real test of capacity.
He said, “The reading culture is dead and it’s very sad. About 10-15 years ago they used to say sarcastically that if you want to hide something from the black man, write it in a book, because he wouldn’t read. But it’s even worse now. The Android culture has diminished, and the GenZ culture has killed the emphasis that should be on reading. People don’t read anymore. We thought technology would improve reading, but it has actually killed it.
“People are now on TikTok, Instagram and other distractions. AI has made the matter worse. You give assignments now, the app will do it for them. The only assignment that can test the actual capacity of your student is the one done in class.
“We are raising a generation that is handing everything
