I do think it's about attention span. There's an entire economy devoted to stealing attention from us.
What makes me feel better is that people still love stories. Whether it's audiobooks, manga or Netflix, or even Tik Tok, people still lvoe a story just as we did thousands of years ago listening to poets and storytellers.
And I think there is always a bit of a kickback against the modern world where people go vintage and pick up a book on purpose - and those that don't would never have been readers anyway.
I also think it's up to parents and schools to encourage reading and for people to see it as valuable. There's a whole lot of neuron firing that goes off from reading that doesn't happen with other forms of storytelling. Smart kids are readers.
Indeed! I notice people still love stories, it's just the medium that's changed and evolved. I recently watched the film version of 1984 and realized some missing part to my understanding of the book. It was through film, I get some of the symbolism of it.
Encouraging more people to read would be a challenge in itself 😂 but lately, I found book party popping up all over and just like @stevenson7 said earlier, reading would never really go obsolete.
Well done for trying here on Hive! I wrote a review for you this week and I'll publish soon. Funny you should mention 1984... You'll understand when I publish!