[egads]

I've been reading Stolen Focus by Johann Hari and one of the points he makes is that there actually is a general decline in the ability to focus enough to enjoy reading books, even amongst educated and intellectual people. A lot of the blame gets put on the usual suspects (smartphones, social media, etc.), but there are a lot of factors like the stressful and distracted nature of our work environments, our diets, our sleep patterns, pollution, etc. that may genuinely be contributing to a increased inability to focus enough to disappear into a book.