It's just not the same for cognitive development and engagement.

Skimming headlines, occasional (short ) articles, and reading pithy comments is vastly different from sustained reading of a single text.

The first is what my dopamine-seeking ADHD slips into multiple times daily as I procrastinate doing my work; the light "popcorn" reading I'm doing is intellectually engaging, on some level, but it's also further fueling my atrophying attention span. And I'm almost exclusively getting surface-level, easily shared ideas that lack nuance.

Actually sitting down and focusing on a text, even if it's a pulp fiction story, works the brain in different ways, requiring sustained attention and deeper comprehension on whatever topic we're reading about (or more involved stories).

So, yes. You're right. Many still are reading a lot. But not reading books is still a huge problem for our society.

And I'm glad that I do both; reading is my primary source of entertainment, professional development, and personal growth. I just hope I'm successful in raising both my kiddos to be readers. (1 of 2, so far, but the youngest is only 6...)

And I think it's time to get off Lemmy and get back to my book.