Abstract This research concerns reading and leisure habits of 10th graders in Reykjavik 2005. The goal is to look at changes in the "cultural literacy" of young people by comparing the results with available comparable research. A questionnaire was administered to all 10th graders (15-16 year olds) in two schools in Reykjavik, 107 pupils. The results show that young people read fewer books on the average in 2005, than in 1993 and 1965, are much more in the new media, the internet and computer games in their spare time than grownups in 2005 and their peers before. The most popular books have been filmed as well and much fewer female than male protagonists are among their favourites. The group of boys and girls that never read books is getting bigger and there are signs of diminished knowledge of literature in some genres not others. Girls read more book than boys, but the difference is less than before, the gender difference in internet use is non-significant but boys play computer games significantly more than girls. The attitude of the 10thgraders to the importance of reading the Sagas and Icelandic literature for Icelanders is more positive than the reading habits suggest, but not as favourable as the same attitude of grownups. The young people emphasize free choice of reading and leisure and significantly more of them than the grownups think that interest in Icelandic culture is reducing, as a result of the new communication media and globalization. Even if these changes in literacy are significant, it is not known how important they are for their cultural literacy in the future, so the term new mankind (Shi Jinrui) is questionable. 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