Not reels, books: Singapore offers virtual coins for 15 minutes of daily reading

In an era of smartphones, reels and short videos, people's habit of reading a book or article for long stretches is steadily declining. To tackle this, Singapore is running a reading promotion programme called ReadSG. The initiative, launched by Singapore's National Library Board (NLB), aims to develop the habit of regular and deep reading among people.

Every person who joins the programme is encouraged to read a book or a long article for at least 15 minutes each day. After completing the reading, they must log their reading activity online. In return, readers get virtual coins as a reward. Each eligible 15-minute reading session earns 20 virtual coins, and only one session per day is counted as eligible.

If someone reads for 50 consecutive days at the rate of 20 coins a day, they accumulate a total of 1,000 virtual coins. These 1,000 coins are valued at the equivalent of 1 Singapore dollar. In other words, the aim of the programme is not to enable any significant earning, but to give a small incentive for the habit of daily reading.

The use of reels, shorts and content of a few seconds or minutes on social media has grown rapidly. Because of this, there is concern that the time spent continuously reading books, research-related articles or other long texts is shrinking. Through ReadSG, an attempt is being made to draw people back towards long-form writing. NLB says that deep reading can help improve concentration, critical thinking and imagination.

It would be wrong to view this programme merely as "read for 15 minutes and earn money." The reward is in fact only an incentive for reading; its real purpose is to build the habit of regular reading among people. Studies on reading habits in Singapore have highlighted a growing trend towards digital and short-form content. Keeping this in view, NLB is placing emphasis on encouraging people to read long texts, including books.