Question: How much is this impacted by people who read for pleasure but fool themselves into thinking it's useful?

Many books are closer to edutainment than practical applicable advice. To a certain type of person these are easier to read (spend time on) than reading purely fiction. And even then it's easy to say you only read fiction that is totally giving you something more insightful than entertainment.

See also many YouTube/Instagram/TiKTok channels and most if not all Substack (et al) newsletters. Yes of course deep diving into <niche subject> at 2am is super critical to my life!

Not many people read physics textbooks for fun.

If you peruse "booktok," the books these people are bragging about reading are barely a step up from the supermarket romance novels that people used to make fun of. (Remember Fabio?)

Making a big deal about reading for the sake of reading is a sign and signifier of having virtuous consumption patterns.

I prefer to read hybrid when possible, e.g. Reverend Insanity