There’s a mind-blowing piece over at present simple: the kind of thing that makes you wonder what planet you’re on. The author (a lecturer language instructor) was talking to a group of students about reading:

I asked the other three students (there were only four) how much reading they did. All three of them said that they didn’t read books at all. Ever. They didn’t seem ashamed to admit this, even though they are all university students in their third or fourth years. They don’t even read textbooks. I asked. They said they didn’t need to, to pass their courses, and since they found reading hard work and didn’t enjoy it, what was the point?
Then one of them looked thoughtful. “Do you think reading is good for anything?” he asked. “Do you think people should read?”
He really wanted to know.
How do you answer questions like that?

I don’t know. How do you? (My emphasis, in case it matters.)