> these days

Bill Hicks, the standup comedian dead for over three decades already, had a now-classic bit about being challenged for reading by a waitress. Reading has always been uncool to some people.

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eru 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Funnily enough, smart phones (and previous feature phones with their SMS) have probably gotten more people into reading and writing for leisure than any other technology since the printing press.

Granted, people are not doing any long form reading and writing on these devices, but they are reading and writing.

	▲	notabotiswear an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		For a brief period before instagrams and youtube became mainstream and tiktoks came along to decimate whatever was left. This is an exaggeration, but I wouldn't rule out your average smartphone user reading less in an average commute than they would do just reading store signs as they pass...
	▲	solumunus an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You’re underestimating how many people almost entirely just doom scroll videos, especially young people.