The Singapore government has taken a new step to encourage people to read books. Participants who log their reading time on a government website are paid for it. The aim is to bring back a declining reading habit and to encourage people to read rather than spend long stretches scrolling on their mobile phones for no reason.
Under the programme, launched this month, a participant has to read for at least 15 minutes. A maximum of one reading session a day can be logged. Completing 50 sessions in this way earns one Singapore dollar. The sum, in other words, is very small. But experts in behavioural science and psychology say that even a small amount can play a part in building a regular reading habit.
The psychologist Jonathan Haidt, author of The Anxious Generation, believes rewards can be effective in starting a behaviour, particularly among children and adolescents. But if the pleasure of reading develops within the person, the habit is more likely to survive without the money. He warned, on the other hand, that where someone reads only for the money, the habit can stop as soon as the reward does.
Associate Professor Lauri Barrio of the University of Warwick also believes that regularly repeating a behaviour can gradually turn it into an ordinary habit. In her view the most important question about Singapore’s scheme is not whether people read more while the reward is available, but whether they keep the reading habit after the reward stops.
Ivo Vlaev, professor of behavioural psychology at the National University of Singapore, said the effectiveness of an incentive on people’s behaviour is not always directly related to the amount of money. In his view it would be wrong to see the money in Singapore’s programme as a wage for reading in the ordinary sense. Rather, it can work as a small trigger to get people to start. Logging reading time, seeing progress and keeping a streak going can move people towards a goal.
The “gamification” of the programme — its game-like, reward-based structure — may also be important. A simple daily target of 15 minutes, the sight of a reading streak and the chance to follow one’s own progress can create an alternative to the instant pull of social media, experts believe.
Experts think an initiative of this kind can be effective in particular for people who used to read but have lost the habit. For those who want to read but cannot get started, a small immediate reward can also help turn that wish into action.
Britain has arrangements offering rewards other than money to encourage reading. Certificates are given to primary school pupils, and the Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge gives badges and certificates. In those schemes the main reward is recognition and a sense of achievement.
Experts believe Singapore’s initiative could be tested in various ways: money in one place, books in another, certificates or badges elsewhere, and points and competition alone somewhere else, then compared. That could make it possible to understand which kind of incentive is more effective in building a lasting reading habit.
A basic question is also being raised about a government paying people to read: should the state give a financial reward for something people do spontaneously for pleasure and for knowledge? Professor Katy Milkman said that since governments subsidise and spend money in many other areas of education, giving a reward to encourage reading can be seen from the same point of view.