From Page to Pen: Writing for Enjoyment Is Falling Fast, and We Need to Talk About It
Not long ago, I wrote about how reading for enjoyment among young people has hit an all-time low.
Now, the National Literacy Trust has released a new report, and the writing is quite literally on the wall.
Just 26.6% of children and young people aged 8 to 18 enjoy writing in their free time.
That’s half the level reported in 2010. And just 10.4% say they write something every day.
This isn’t just a dip. It’s a free fall.
The Disappearing Act of Writing for Pleasure
Writing has always been the quieter sibling of reading, often overlooked, rarely celebrated. But it’s just as vital for:
✍️ Self-expression
🧠 Emotional regulation
📚 Academic achievement
🗣️ Communication skills that last a lifetime
So when fewer young people are picking up a pen (or tapping into a doc) for anything beyond school tasks, we need to ask: why?
It’s Not All Doom and Gloom
What’s fascinating is that when young people do write, it’s often for the right reasons:
🧘 Nearly 41% of teens write to manage thoughts and feelings
🎨 Almost half say they write to be creative
💭 Many say they’re more motivated when writing feels meaningful or when they have a real choice in topic
There’s still a deep desire for expression, it’s just being squeezed out of the system.
The Silent Cost of Sidelining Writing
This shift has wider implications:
It’s a sign that writing has become overly functional, task-based, assessed, and anxiety-inducing.
It reflects a school culture that often prioritises technical accuracy over voice, freedom, and joy.
And it threatens to leave a generation less able or willing to articulate their ideas and identities.
We talk a lot about oracy, reading, and digital skills. But writing? It’s the quiet casualty of curriculum pressure.
So What Can We Do About It?
As with reading, this is a space where education suppliers, EdTech platforms, and curriculum designers can step up.
But this time, I’m not going to list the usual “what it means for suppliers” bullet points. You know them.
Instead, I’ll say this:
Let’s stop treating writing as a technical skill and start treating it as a creative one.
Let’s create tools, content, and programmes that:
✨ Give young people a choice
📣 Help them find their voice
🧠 Support writing for wellbeing, not just grading
💬 Make space for informal, expressive, real writing, not just PEE paragraphs and essay drills
Final Thoughts
We’re watching the foundations of literacy quietly erode. Reading is down. Writing is down. That’s not just a red flag, it’s a warning flare.
But there’s still time to respond, with imagination, empathy, and innovation.
Let’s rebuild not just skills, but the joy that comes with putting words together, and owning what they say.