It's good topic to discuss. I guess that reading of books now don't play such big role as it used before. Though, when I go to library, often there is quite a lot people, especially young, what is a bit.
I can tell from my own perspective - I barely read books nowadays. I struggle to find time for reading and even when I find, I struggle to keep attention, there is too many distractions for me from. And personally, don't really like all these fictional stories like novels, science fiction or fantasy, I don'tthink that I can't benefit somehow from reading such kind of books. I prefer historical books or biographies.
Speaking about young generation, it's so dififcult to make them to be interested in books when they have things like Tik Tok or Youtube Who needs to learn something when Wikipedia have all answers to your questions. Not even talking about AI tools.
reading is essential... but books? have you never heard of kindle
the breadth of information is far more accessible and vast in the digital age, google has more information than an encyclopaedia
I think OP's point isn't about way how you consume books - it might be old school paper book, kindle or even audio book. It's more about you're reading or not.