Singapore is paying people to read books – can it fix the reading crisis?
4 hours ago
- Singapore launched a scheme that pays citizens cash for logging reading time on a government website, earning one Singapore dollar for 50 reading sessions of at least 15 minutes.
- Behavioral scientists and psychologists suggest that small financial rewards can help establish a reading habit, especially for young people and lapsed readers.
- The effectiveness of the scheme may rely more on gamification, immediate feedback, and progress tracking than on the monetary value itself.
- Experts caution that extrinsic rewards might not sustain reading habits once the money stops, unless the activity becomes intrinsically pleasurable.
- Non-monetary reward schemes, such as certificates and badges, already exist in the UK and could be compared with cash rewards through pilot trials.
- Some argue that governments should financially reward reading, as education is already subsidized, while others question whether it undermines intrinsic motivation.