Your question is an interesting one that is also very complex. Without a doubt, the "new Media" that individuals are employing is different from literary texts and the difference in genre can make a real difference.  I agree with Mitja that some of the reason lies there...those learners/consumers are employing a media that is different in style and in how the information is relayed...since individuals employ this new media, they are less oriented to the more literary structure of books.  With regard to the style, one is not better than the other, they are different.  I would argue, however, that the new media is less oriented to the deeper and reflective aspects of our human condition and so the content appears (to me, at least) to be more superficial in the new media.  David Lodge in his essays about the evolution of the novel, for example, shows very effectively that this literary device developed quite unique ways to address and share consciousness across individuals that simply cannot be done in other types of media.

Another issue is how the decreasing book reading habits are measured....if this is done without careful consideration of how audiobooks and electronic books have impacted the sells of physical books and how they are shared across individuals, then the data might be less accurate.

Another issue is that how children are taught to read will impact whether they are good readers and whether -- if they can read -- whether they want to do so.  At least in the United States, there was a huge rush (really created by political and ideological motives during the Bush administration) to employ fragmented and behavioristic approaches to reading pedagogy that produced a generation of poor readers or readers who do not like to read....... these are just three variables to this complex problem.

New media for sure. Their overall materials usually require less effort to read through; partially because new media materials tend to be shorter. There is also a tendency to add more visuals, to make the materials more digestable. The downside is that new media materials tend to lose the width of a traditional printed effort in this sense.

Another reason for a decrease in reading habits per say is that books nowadays tend to be available in audio form; making it easier to consume the book's contents while attending to other activities. This remains controversial, as it often impacts the quality of both activities you are trying to multitask your way through.

Your question is an interesting one that is also very complex. Without a doubt, the "new Media" that individuals are employing is different from literary texts and the difference in genre can make a real difference.  I agree with Mitja that some of the reason lies there...those learners/consumers are employing a media that is different in style and in how the information is relayed...since individuals employ this new media, they are less oriented to the more literary structure of books.  With regard to the style, one is not better than the other, they are different.  I would argue, however, that the new media is less oriented to the deeper and reflective aspects of our human condition and so the content appears (to me, at least) to be more superficial in the new media.  David Lodge in his essays about the evolution of the novel, for example, shows very effectively that this literary device developed quite unique ways to address and share consciousness across individuals that simply cannot be done in other types of media.

Another issue is how the decreasing book reading habits are measured....if this is done without careful consideration of how audiobooks and electronic books have impacted the sells of physical books and how they are shared across individuals, then the data might be less accurate.

Another issue is that how children are taught to read will impact whether they are good readers and whether -- if they can read -- whether they want to do so.  At least in the United States, there was a huge rush (really created by political and ideological motives during the Bush administration) to employ fragmented and behavioristic approaches to reading pedagogy that produced a generation of poor readers or readers who do not like to read....... these are just three variables to this complex problem.

The booming of ICT has increased people's craze for digitalized books especially the young ones. The easy and fast paced life style  as well as the present education system, the apathy of various stakeholders of the system and publishing industry too has contributed .

New Media, IT, after TV and Nintendo, have actively contribute to the death of reading.Unfortunately we have lost the sense of complexity and logical thought and more important the ability to identify contraddictions and lies."There is no Frigate like a book to take us Lands away" wrote Emily Dickinson.Reading still plays and, for the future, will continue to play, a crucial role in our society. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that reading's role has diminished and it will continue to shrink.

 I observe reading electronically has gone phenomenally higher whereas reading books holding a physical copy has reduced. Reading has diminished but not vanished, To me  feeling the book and the bond it creates is something comes with age. Current younger generation do both. Early childhood  reading habit can make a difference in the long run.

I would like to undermine Jayanthis answer. Indeed the younger generation explores  different reading habits, but they also love to read young adult dystopian literature and fantasy books with lots of sequels involved in the reading process. In my time as a german teacher I observed many children do read a lot, even in school breaks. It needs effectice reads to keep them engaged in tzhe process.

Dear colleagues: Let me ask you some questions. Are we sure that reading habits have decreased nowadays? Is it true in all societies? Can we talk about a universal problem? Did the parents or grandparents of today's youngsters read much more than their children or grandchildren? Has there ever been a culminating historical moment in which reading was the dominant and universal activity? Will not this be one of the usual cliches about books, reading and new technologies? I think that the great complexity of an activity such as reading can not be solved in a simple way.

This is an interesting question. 

Although the investigation appeared to reveal a declining trend in print-book reading (Rainie and Perrin, 2015), a recent survey found that Americans have been increasingly choosing multipurpose/electronic devices for reading, for example, smartphones, tablet computers, audio books, etc. It was also found that e-book readership increased from 17 % to 28% between 2011 and 2014. Furthermore, 14% of Americans listened to audio books in 2016 compared with only 11% in 2015 (Perrin, 2016). 

• Perrin, A. (2016). Book Reading 2016: A growing share of Americans are reading e-books on tablets and smartphones rather than dedicated e-readers, but print books remain much more popular than books in digital formats, from Pew Research Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/09/01/book-reading-2016/
• Rainie, l. and Perrin, a. (2015). Slightly fewer Americans are reading print books, new survey finds, from Pew Research Center:
• http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/10/19/slightly-fewer-americans-are-reading-print-books-new-survey-finds/