The Decline of Deep Reading Ability among University Students in the Digital Media Era: An Integrative Framework of Attention, Reading Motivation, and Cognitive Mechanisms

The proliferation of short-form videos and fragmented information is profoundly reshaping contemporary reading habits. Drawing on an integrative literature review, this study analyzes the multifaceted impact of digital media on the progressive decline of deep reading abilities among higher education students. It focuses on how high-frequency environmental stimuli modify, disrupt, and ultimately damage traditional attention patterns and the underlying reading motivations, drawing on foundational research across pedagogy, cognitive psychology, and cognitive neuroscience. Findings reveal that digital environments explicitly trigger the "screen inferiority effect" and "attention residue," leading to severe attention fragmentation and elevated cognitive costs during task switching. Furthermore, the highly sophisticated variable-reward mechanisms engineered by modern digital platforms undermine an individual's intrinsic motivation to read, transitioning the primary purpose of reading from a profound quest for intellectual knowledge to a superficial pursuit of instant entertainment. Consequently, traditional linear and analytical thinking processes are superseded by superficial cognitive shortcuts. Educational interventions must prioritize advanced digital literacy, create distraction-free, deep-reading environments, and guide students to use metacognitive awareness to moderate their technology consumption.