I find myself reading less and less new sci-fi and fantasy because I find everything so completely derivative of everything that's come before. If I were to hazard a guess at why people are reading less F&SF, it's because I don't see anything new or different anymore. Most of the F&SF I see is licensed products, mindlessly churned out to fill the coffers of some publisher who want to slap a well-known brand on a book cover rather than invest on the contents inside. Or it's the publisher's desire to clearly break things down into genres, so if a new fantasy book comes along, then it has to neatly fit into the fantasy genre and not push any boundaries by doing anything new.
I used to be an English Major, I took literature courses at the U of U for about 2 years. Ultimately, I couldn't stand the discussions and debates between the students about the stuff we read. It drove me out of my mind all the over-analyzation that would go on. I ended up switching majors (I remember clearly thinking to myself one day, "When I graduate, these are going to be my peers. Do I want to work with these people day in and day out for the rest of my life? No way!) Ultimately, for me, it boiled down to: did I enjoy reading the book? For whatever reason, whether it was fluff or socially engaging or well-researched or whatever.
There's certainly good stuff still coming out, but I find I have to search for it more. I love the George R. R. Martin Game of Throne books, I've been a big fan of his since Middle School (and for you youngsters, that's a LONG time ago). The Terry Goodkind books are entertaining, if you can stomach his incessant preaching on objectivism. I try to read anything of David Brin when he's not writing in an established setting (such as Dune). But I find myself turning back to re-read stuff I liked more and more.
I'm holding out high hopes for the Elantris book though...