> Keeping the reader glued to the screen is not the primary goal of writing.

This is common advice in English classes and it predates the World Wide Web (and likely the Internet).

Hook them in the first few sentences or lose them.

And yes, of course, it does depend on who the intended audience is. You wouldn't do it in The New Yorker.

> You don't write for the reader. You write for yourself first. Readers sometimes, just happen to appreciate it about as much you do.

Depends very much on the medium. It's definitely not true that most professional writing is written for the author's sake. It is for an audience. Read books on writing and you'll often find the advice to cut out things if they won't interest the reader - no matter how valuable it is to you.

I myself struggle with this. Some years ago, I took a trip to my childhood home in another country after being separated for decades. Almost none of my friends from the time have been there in decades either. I made notes during the trip, and when I got back I started writing what I saw, and shared it with my friends who grew up with me. How various neighborhoods have changed. Anecdotes from my childhood tied to those places. And a lot more.

I got 30% done, and then decided to hold off sharing till I'd written the whole thing. I now have a first draft. It's the size of a proper book. It contains a lot of stuff that is of value to me, but likely not to most of the (small) audience. I know if I share it with them, chances are high no one will read it.

On the one hand, the stuff I wrote is highly valuable to me - it's become an unintentional memoir. But on the other hand, I do want to share quite a bit with my friends, and I know they'll value it if they actually read it.

I'll either have to cut a lot out, or write two versions (impractical).

The point being that even when you have a very limited audience, it is important to care about them and sacrifice your needs to an extent.