Can Singapore turn doomscrollers become doomreaders?

There’s a sense in which the cultivation of a habit can be a journey from reason to unreason, dilettante to fanatic. Take reading, for instance. Making a conscious decision to read a book for so many minutes each day, at a fixed time, and having the discipline to maintain it, is one thing: Structured, rational, methodical. It’s everywhere today, displayed in reading lists, challenges, aesthetic photographs and dating-app bios. In the habit’s fullest manifestation, however, there’s always a tinge of madness, a willingness to sacrifice sight, sleep and society for the printed drug. For many, the unwelcome cure is the drudgery of adult life.

How easy is it to make the leap from one to the other? A new initiative by Singapore’s government to encourage people to read books rather than doomscroll raises the question. It’s a “gamification” strategy, allowing people to earn money by recording daily reading sessions of 15 minutes or more on a government website. The amounts on offer are small. But behavioural scientists and psychologists argue that a reward mechanism may nudge people with some interest in reading over the line. For them, the question is whether the habit will stick once the reward is taken away.

There’s reason to be optimistic. History shows that it is possible for movements and campaigns to create a reading public. The work of the Chartist press in 19th-century Britain to inculcate the habit among the working class is one example. If Singapore’s policy enjoys similar success in the face of the rising tide of brainrot, it may encourage efforts elsewhere. The real test will be — can doomscrollers become doomreaders?